Unknowing
by selrems303
Summary: Sam and Austin will soon be on their way to Princeton where, unbeknownst to them, skeletons from the past are waiting for them. Will their love and trust in each other be strong enough to keep them from being torn apart? Please R & R!
1. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER ONE**

**Los Angeles, California**

The thunder crashed in the afternoon sky as a backdrop to the rain that pelted against the bedroom window. Sam hated thunderstorms with a passion. In fact, for the past ten years, she hated almost every type of natural phenomenon known to man. The way they could end someone's life in a matter of seconds was almost unfathomable but, at the same time, all too real for her. Sam hugged her knees to her chest and couldn't decide whether it was the storm that was making her shiver or the fact that she only had on a tank top and shorts.

The voice in her ear brought her back to reality and Sam sighed into the phone when she heard the sadness in it. "Austin, you should go to the party. It's the end of summer bash and I don't want you to miss it because of me."

"Sam, I don't want to go if you're not going. We're leaving for Princeton in a week; don't you want to see everyone before we go?"

Sam bit back the 'hell no' comment that was on the tip of her tongue and attempted a response filled with a tad less bitch. "Austin, the majority of them are really your friends not mine. I'm not trying to be difficult, but honestly, dealing with everyone since we got together last fall has been a pain in the ass and I'm just not up for any more of it. I can't wait until we're on the other side of the country where, hopefully, no one will know us, judge us, or do everything in their power to tear us apart."

Austin's heart wrenched at her words. He knew she was right and no matter how much he stood up for them, confronted his friends and anyone else that had anything to say, he couldn't protect her from everything. And it wasn't even like she needed protecting. Since they started dating, Sam hadn't taken any crap from any of them, which was one of the many things that he loved about her. But nine months of fighting off the barracudas of North Valley High would take its toll on anyone. Austin thought about what he could do to make her feel better, but all he came up with was, "I'm sorry."

The defeated tone in his voice brought tears to Sam's eyes. "Austin, please don't apologize. Having you in my life is what makes it all worth it and, even though it's hard, I wouldn't have it any other way. And I don't blame you for any of this, you know that right?"

"Yeah, I know. I just … I just wish there was something I could do."

"There is. You can go to that party and have a good time. I will see the people that I care to see before we leave for college, don't worry."

Austin moved his cell phone to his left ear so that his right hand was free to turn down the radio of his Mercedes Grand Edition. "But Sam, I don't want to go if you aren't going to be with me. Maybe I'll just go home and work on the story that you roped me into."

"Roped you into! A big-time publisher is interested in one of your stories and you think it's a bad thing?"

"I don't think it's a bad thing, but I do think that you had no right to send it to them behind my back."

Sam pinched the bridge of her nose in a futile attempt to hold back her sigh of frustration, "I know Austin, but I don't understand why you think you aren't ready. You stories are amazing. You shouldn't need four years of college to figure that out. I mean, Beethoven already had some of his music published by the time he was twelve years old for crying out loud! Besides, I've apologized profusely for this. How many times do we have to have this fight?"

"I know, I'm sorry. But it's just so unreal. Plus, they like my story _idea_ but they want me to turn it into something longer and that's a lot of pressure." Austin laughed lightly, "Besides, by throwing everything on you, I can throw the blame on you too if it doesn't work out."

Sam rolled her eyes, "Funny. Seriously Austin, I do not want you to regret not going to this party and I certainly don't want you resenting me because you didn't go. So go and have fun, then you can look forward to keeping me warm during those freezing cold New Jersey winters we have ahead of us over the next four years."

"Even though the thoughts of exactly what we could be doing to keep warm have me practically paralyzed right now, I still want you to go with me."

Sam giggled and ran her fingers through her blonde locks. "You know, now that I think about it, it is kind of chilly in here. Rhonda must have the AC on full blast today and all I have on is these teeny little shorts and a tank top that, sheesh, you can practically see right through this thing. Hmmm, what could I possibly do to warm up a little? If only I weren't all alone in this house, an extra person might generate some heat in here."

Austin couldn't stifle his groan. "That is so not fair." He adjusted his position in the driver's seat so that his jeans weren't so binding. "You're evil, you know that? Have I ever told you that?"

Sam pulled out her best southern accent, "Why Mr. Ames! And all this time you had me believing you were sweet on me. What a naïve, silly, little girl I am. How will I ever learn to wise up to the ways of you mischievous boys?"

At the sound of the doorbell, Sam rolled off her bed and headed to the front of the house as she listened to Austin laugh suggestively on the other end of the phone, "Oh I can think of a few things that will help you 'learn the ways'," he said. A few things that I would, most definitely, be willing to teach you."

"My, my Mr. Ames. Where are your manners?" Sam reached for the handle and began to open the door. "You are certainly not living up to the gentlemanly reputation with which you have everyone fooled and … "

The piercing blue eyes that stared down at her from the other side of the threshold had Sam frozen where she stood. "Right now," Austin's voice was low and husky as he snapped his cell phone shut, "I don't give a damn about my reputation."

Austin's lips had claimed Sam's in a matter of seconds as he moved his body against hers in the direction of her bedroom at the back of the house, kicking the door shut with his foot as an afterthought. As they fell onto her bed, Austin caught himself with his hands so that he wouldn't crush her and, looking down into the gaze of her beautiful brown eyes, he was suddenly motionless. They had been here before – fooling around on her bed – at least a hundred times but they hadn't taken that final step in their relationship yet. Looking at her now though, Austin felt like there was something different about this time and for some reason he was unsure and very nervous. Austin gently placed his hand on Sam's cheek as his eyes took in every curve and shadow in the features on her face.

"It's okay Austin," she whispered putting her hand over his that was on her cheek. Sam reached up with her other hand and placed it on the back of Austin's head, pulling him down to her. The growing desire within him was too much to suppress now. His pulse was racing, his heart was pumping a mile a minute, and he was now completely hard and throbbing in need. A small sigh escaped his lips before he took a deep, shaky breath then looked from her eyes to her lips and back to her eyes. Austin leaned closer to her but then waited – he thought that she would stop him and wanted to be absolutely sure, so he waited. But the deep brown eyes below him radiated nothing but want and need.

At the tugging of her fingers at the hem of his shirt, Austin raised his arms so she could pull the fabric over his head. He couldn't keep his body from shaking when Sam ran her fingers across his shoulders and down over the muscles in his back. Austin's breathing was now heavy and raspy as he traced her hairline with his fingers while he slowly leaned forward, drawing closer to her until their lips were just barely together.

Slowly, Austin moved closer and feathered his lips back and forth over hers with his warm breath covering her face. When he heard her breath catch and felt her nails run gently down the side of his neck, his control was gone. Austin slid his hand underneath her head lifting her up to him, and captured her mouth with his. They held their lips together without moving – their eyes closed tightly, breathing heavily into each other, both reveling in the passion that was exploding in them. Sam broke the kiss first, moving to kiss across his jaw and up to his ear while lightly licking him every inch or so. Then she took his earlobe between her lips and bit down on it softly before trailing her tongue down his neck and into the hollow of his throat where it outlined the indentation there. She finally took his lips in hers again, sucking and licking them softly, causing Austin to growl when he felt her tongue run across his bottom lip. He pulled away and looked at her briefly, but she was addicting and he needed more of her. Austin held her face in his hands and pressed his mouth to hers again, pushing his tongue between her lips in a fury of passion.

"Sam honey! Are you home?" They froze at the sound of Rhonda's voice and realized that, in their haste, they had neglected to even close her bedroom door let alone lock it. The two bodies scrambled away from each other and Austin flew off the bed in search of his shirt. After finding it crumpled in the corner that Sam had thrown it into, Austin pulled it over his head. He sat down in a chair as far away from the bed as possible while Sam remained on the bed with her legs crossed underneath her; the two of them trying to look casual.

"Sam, are you here?" Rhonda screamed through the house while she moved closer to Sam's bedroom. "I saw Austin's car outside."

Sam's eyebrows rose as she realized that Rhonda was yelling a little louder than she really needed to. "We're in here Rhonda," Sam finally answered.

Rhonda appeared in the doorway where she looked at Sam sitting on the bed and giving her the most innocent expression possible. Then she looked at Austin who was as red as the Christmas mistletoe and refused to meet her eyes. "Umm hmm." Rhonda put her hands on her hips while she looked back and forth between the two of them. "It's a good thing I made a point of announcing that I was home. I don't want to know what I would've witnessed."

"But Rhonda, we were …"

Rhonda held her hand in the air to stop Sam from going any further. "Like I said, I don't want to know. I am not your mother, I am not Austin's mother and you are both over eighteen now so I don't feel it's my place to tell you what you can and cannot do. But, I do want it known that I do not approve of it."

"But Rhonda, I'm trying to tell you that we weren't do …"

Rhonda had moved a few steps down the hall, but her hand reappeared in the doorway, again interrupting what Sam was trying to say. "No, no. You shush. Rhonda has spoken and that's all you need to know." Then suddenly her head reappeared in the doorway as well, "But I absolutely forbid you to get pregnant in this house, do you understand?" Rhonda looked at Sam, "Okay?" then she looked at Austin, "Okay?" and without waiting for either one of them to reply, she said "Okay" again in confirmation before heading to the bathroom at the end of the hall.

Sam looked at Austin who now sat, completely mortified, with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands and she couldn't help but laugh at him.

Austin's head shot up and he glared at Sam in amazement. "What are you laughing at? What could possibly be funny about this?" Austin stood and began pacing the small bedroom.

Sam reached for his hand and pulled him until he was sitting next to her on the bed. "Austin, calm down really. It's no big deal. Rhonda's cool about everything, she knows what's going on with us."

Austin stared at her again, "What do you mean 'she knows'?"

"Well she doesn't know _everything_, but she's like one of my best friends – I do talk to her about stuff."

"Oh good grief," Austin groaned as he ran his hands through his hair.

"Listen Charlie Brown, would you rather have me tell her or Carter all of my inner secrets?"

"It's a toss up." Austin sat up and took her hands in his. "Sam, it's not really a big deal. It's just that the guy, who in this scenario is me remember, always comes off looking like the creep. I don't want Rhonda thinking that I'm forcing you into situations you aren't ready for."

"Austin, Rhonda does not think that and I would never let her think that. Besides, remind me again who it was that showed up on my doorstep then corralled me into my bedroom?"

Austin gave Sam a sheepish grin, "Well, if I recall correctly, you started it with all of your 'keep me warm' innuendos and you weren't complaining at all once I was here."

"No Mr. Ames, I wasn't complaining at all and I'm still not complaining." Sam crawled closer to him and rose up on her knees in order to kiss him. She felt Austin tense before she ran her tongue between his lips. Sam was just about to deepen the pressure when Austin pulled away from her.

"Ahem." They both turned to see Rhonda walk by the door as she cleared her throat.

Austin looked down at their still intertwined fingers, "I think we should get out of here and go to the party before we get in any more trouble."

Sam gave him a questioning look, "We?"

"Oh come on Sam."

Sam mimicked his whine, "Oh come on Austin."

"Sam, please come with me."

"I don't want to Austin. Please just go and I'll talk to you later."

Austin pouted like a three-year-old, "Fine I'll go. But I won't have any fun without you there."

Sam kissed him again, "Well I should hope you wouldn't have too much fun when I'm not around."

They both rose from the bed and headed to the front door where Austin turned and pulled Sam into one, last, lingering kiss. When he pulled away, he placed his hand on the side of her face and ran his thumb across her cheekbone. Austin looked deep into her eyes before quietly whispering, "I love you babygirl."

Sam smiled contentedly before replying, "I love you too Austin."

**

* * *

**

**One Week Later**

The baby blue mustang sat in Rhonda's driveway packed with as much stuff that could physically be crammed into it while Austin and Sam said their last minute goodbyes.

"Well David, it's definitely been … well, an experience getting to know you this year. I wish I could say that I'll miss you, but who am I to blow smoke up your you-know-what." Sam and David hadn't become close by any means but they didn't completely hate each other either. Each was usually the butt of the other's jokes, but it was mostly all in fun and they tolerated each other for Austin's sake. "Good luck at Notre Dame."

"Right back at ya' diner girl." David slapped Sam on the shoulder and leaned closer to her to continue in a semi-whisper, "and listen, if you ever do need anything to blow … well, you know who to call."

"Dave!" They both turned to see the feigned look of astonishment on Austin's face.

"What? I'm just trying to offer my support should she ever need it."

"Dude, first of all, I can hear you. Second of all, don't be disrespecting my girlfriend."

As Sam watched David and Austin begin their goodbyes with a manly hand-grab and shoulder-to-shoulder hug, she hoped that since Notre Dame was almost an hour away from Princeton maybe she wouldn't have to deal with David too much.

"How are you holding up?"

Sam turned to see Ryan behind her and she immediately wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. "Oh Ry, I really am going to miss you. As much as I want to put everyone here behind us, you are definitely my favorite one of his friends."

Ryan held on to her as he whispered, "Don't worry Sam. No one knows you in Jersey so you'll be able to start fresh with each other. And if you do run in to some assholes, just remember what I always say, keep your friends close and your enemies closer."

Sam pulled back and gave him a questioning look but then dismissed it. "You'll call me right? I don't want to miss out on any of those long talks we have."

He smiled down at her, "You can count on it. And NYU is practically a stone's throw from Princeton so I'm sure we'll be seeing each other a lot." Sam hugged him again before he moved to say goodbye to Austin as well.

That left her with Carter and as soon as she looked at him, Sam started to cry.

"Don't cry Sam." Carter pulled her into his arms and smoothed the back of her hair.

"I can't help it Carter. I'm going to miss you so much. You and all of your characters; especially Snoop Dizzle, he was my favorite."

Carter laughed as he held her at arms length. "Sam, we're going to see each other because if we don't, you know I will walk to Jersey if I have to and beat your skinny little white ass."

Sam laughed and wiped the tears from her cheeks. "I am so proud of you Carter. You're going to do so well at Juilliard, I just know it. You're definitely gonna make it, I have a sixth sense about these things you know."

"Yeah, you keep telling me that." Carter pulled her into another hug and he could feel her body start to shake again. "Stop it. No more crying." Carter pulled away to look at her again, "Call me as soon as you get there so that I know you're safe."

"Yes dad."

"I'm serious. If you don't call me by Monday, I'm calling the police and telling them that you were kidnapped. I don't think Austin will like that too much."

"What won't I like too much?" Austin came up to Sam's side and slid his arm around her lower back.

"Oh, I was just telling Sam that if she doesn't call me by Monday to let me know you got in okay, I am going to call the police and tell them she has been kidnapped."

Austin gave Carter a strange look. He liked Carter because he was always there for Sam no matter what and he would do absolutely anything for her, but there was just something about him that made Austin think he was a couple french fries short of a Happy Meal. "She'll call you, don't worry." Austin offered his hand to Carter who shook it genially. "Thanks for seeing us off man." Carter nodded and gave Sam one last hug before letting her go say goodbye to Eleanor, Bobby and Rhonda.

Austin climbed into the driver's seat and chatted with everyone while Sam was talking to Rhonda. He had already said goodbye to her and wanted to give the two girls some time alone, which was good because it seemed as if Sam was now crying uncontrollably on Rhonda's shoulder.

"Oh Rhonda, as much as I want to go I don't want to go. I'm going to miss all of you too much and it's so far away. Maybe I should just go to UCLA or something."

Rhonda looked at Sam knowingly. "Sam honey, all of those people right there," Rhonda waved her hand in the direction of the car around which everyone was standing, "are going to be on the east coast with you so I don't know why you would want to stay here."

"That's right Sam. And you need to be with your friends, not with us old fogies." Sam smiled at Bobby as he pulled her away from Rhonda and into a hug.

Sam then turned to hug Eleanor as well, "But what about the diner?"

Eleanor laughed, "Honey, the diner will be fine. Don't you trust Rhonda not to run it into the ground?"

Sam looked horrified and turned quickly back to Rhonda. "Of course I do. Oh Rhonda, I didn't mean it that way. I just meant that I could help if I were …"

"I know what you meant Sam, it's okay." Rhonda's eyes glassed over despite her attempts to remain calm. "Sam, I know it's scary, but you are the bravest, strongest person I know and going to Princeton has been your dream since you were nine. Besides, what would your dad say right now?"

Sam laughed through her tears as she answered, "Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game."

"That's right." Rhonda hugged her yet again, "Now you go and make your dad proud. I know you'll make the rest of us proud. I'll miss you sweetie."

Sam nodded, "Thank you so much for everything Rhonda. I can't even begin to tell you how much you and everything you've done means to me. I've always considered you like a surrogate mother, even long before I moved in here."

Rhonda's tears were flowing freely now. "Oh baby, I'm going to miss you so much. We all are. Be careful, okay?"

Sam nodded before finally heading towards the car and then climbing into the passenger's seat. Looking around at all of the faces before her, she memorized every expression and every detail of the people she was leaving so that she could forever etch this picture in her brain. When she felt Austin grab her hand, she looked over at him wanting to remember every detail of his face as well.

Sam waved to everyone as they all yelled goodbye again and the car backed out of the driveway. When they were finally at a point where they couldn't see Rhonda's house or any of the people standing in the driveway anymore, Sam leaned over to rest her head on Austin's shoulder and squeezed his hand tighter. He leaned over to kiss the top of her head and, as corny as it was, while Austin was steering the car in the direction of the I-10 East on-ramp, Sam couldn't help but think that this was the first day of the rest of their lives together.


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER TWO**

**October 31**

**Princeton, New Jersey**

Exhausted after a two-hour, late-afternoon Economics exam, Sam returned to her dormitory on the west side of campus and slowly climbed the four flights of stairs that would lead her to her room, her bed, and some long overdue sleep. This had been the week from hell but it was finally Friday and she planned on taking a long nap before going out with Austin that night.

Reaching her room about midway down the hall, Sam vaguely heard the sounds of soft music coming from the other side of the door and figured that her roommate was home. It didn't click to her that the music wasn't the usual Metallica that her roommate blasted through the building at all hours of the day. Before even trying her key, she pushed on the door to see if it was open, which it was, and the strong smell of roses and lilies immediately wafted past her, awakening her senses. As she pushed the door open further, she saw over a hundred candles lit up all over the room, each adorned with an assortment of the flowers that she had smelled and she finally realized that the music was Edwin McCain.

He remembered.

Sam entered the room and came face to face with Austin who stood holding one white and one red rose, dressed in the same Prince Charming costume that he had worn to the Halloween Homecoming dance a year before.

While Sam fought to keep the tears out of her eyes, Austin's signature smile spread across his face as he crossed his right foot in front of his left, placed his left arm behind his back and bent over before her to offer her the roses. "My lady," he said.

Looking around the room, Sam raised her hand to cover her mouth, "Aust … How did … I can't bel … When … How did you …"

Austin slowly took her hand away from her mouth and held it tightly between his palms while he placed a gentle kiss on her lips. "I had some help," he whispered.

"From who?"

"You mean, from whom?"

Sam rolled her eyes. Correcting people's grammar was one of the very few bad habits that Austin actually had. "Yeah, that's what I said, from _who_?"

Austin laughed at her while kissing the back of her hand, "Your roommate."

"You mean Tasha, my anti-social, Nazi-worshiping, borderline psychotic roommate?"

"That's the one." Austin crinkled his eyebrows together and tapped his chin, "It was sort of odd though, she was uncharacteristically eager to help."

Sam giggled, "I think she has a thing for you. She always gets flustered whenever you're around."

Austin wrapped his arms around Sam's waist to pull her to him and looked down into her chestnut eyes. "You're the only one I care about getting flustered when I'm around."

Sam smiled against his lips when Austin leaned in and kissed her again. "Seriously, what did she do? She hasn't said five words to me in the whole two months we've been here and I live with her!"

"She didn't do anything really other than let me in and agree to stay away for the night."

Sam's eyebrows rose in mock astonishment, "Stay away for the night, huh? What exactly did you have in mind my Prince?"

The playful look in his eyes answered for him. Sam watched his left eyebrow rise in suggestion, an expression that made her melt and he knew it.. That look was all she could take.

Sam stood on her toes to reach his lips while her hands slid inside his jacket and pushed it off of his shoulders. Austin did the same with her coat then moved his hand up the back of her neck and into her hair in order to tilt her head and deepen the kiss. It was only a few moments before Sam pushed Austin backwards until the back of his knees hit the bed, forcing him into a sitting position. The seductive smile that played across her lips made Austin dizzy, but that was nothing compared to the sight of her slowly and painstakingly unbuttoning her own top as she stood before him.

Sam shimmied out of her top then used the folded tie around his neck as a levy to slowly pull herself onto his lap before removing the tie altogether. Austin tried to kiss her again, but Sam turned her head away to instead tease him as she unbuttoned his shirt. With the release of each circular piece of plastic, Sam lightly slid her fingers underneath the fabric and over his hard, muscled chest. "No, no, no. You have to wait," Sam said as Austin tried to kiss her yet again. "Besides, this is as much for my pleasure as it is for yours." Once she had his shirt completely open, the pads of her fingers gently traced the lower lines of each pectoral muscle then down over the vertical indentation between the two sets of muscles in his stomach and then further down to the faint trail of hair that led to his navel.

That was Austin's breaking point. His eyelids fluttered closed over his eyes that had rolled into the back of his head. His groan was completely guttural when he placed his hands under Sam's rear for support then quickly stood up, lifting her with him, and turned around where they both fell onto the bed behind them. Austin pulled away slightly to remove his shirt completely before returning to Sam to finally feel her lips again.

Sam broke the kiss to move to his neck and Austin tilted his head back and to the side, his eyes closed, allowing her full access to him. "God Sam," he hissed, pulling away to look seriously into her eyes. "Is this … I mean, are you sure? Is this okay?" He supposed he was being a little presumptuous, but they had been together for a year now and he wanted her so badly.

"I'm sure Austin. I love you and I want to be with you more than anything."

Austin smoothed the hair away from her face, "God baby. You don't know how long I've wanted this, wanted you … how long I've waited for you," Austin said as he leaned down and gently kissed each of her cheekbones. Sam pressed her lips to his and wrapped her arms around him, her hands ran through his hair and then down his back before she grabbed onto his rear and pressed him into her, pushing his hips hard against her thigh. "Oh God Sam …" Austin moaned against her mouth, his tongue feverishly exploring and stroking hers as he unconsciously thrust his hips into her, in sync with the movements of his tongue.

Sam decided to take control and pushed him over onto his back to move on top of him, kissing and licking down his neck, pulling his skin between her lips, then moving on to his chest. Austin's breathing grew heavier and he moaned softly when she licked around the edge of his nipple and took it between her teeth, biting it playfully. Sam shifted positions so she could move her body lower, but never removed her tongue from his skin – lightly kissing his abs, tracing the lines of muscles in his stomach with her tongue, moving ever lower down his body.

"Sam," Austin whispered running his fingers through her hair. "What are you doing babygirl?" Austin gasped when he felt her fingers slide into the rim of his pants and boxers and he gripped onto the blanket beneath him.

"Sshhh … " she breathed heavily against his skin. Sam slowly eased her fingers along the inside of his boxers then around to his back, reveling in his moan that ensued. Sam was so absorbed in him, the sounds he was making were driving her insane and they turned her on in the worst way. Sam's mind was running in circles until, suddenly, all of his movements, sounds, even his breathing seemed to stop. At that point she heard it too – the knocking at the door.

Austin slapped his hand over his forehead, "I can't believe I forgot about this."

"Forgot about what?" Sam asked.

Austin sat up and threw his shirt back on his shoulders but he didn't bother to button it.. He then handed Sam her shirt and waited as she put it on with an utterly confused expression on her face. When they were finally decent, Austin stood up and headed for the door, "I ordered room service."

Sam looked at him strangely, "Room service? In a dorm?"

Austin smiled at her as he opened the door where she saw Derrick, Austin's roommate, standing dressed as a waiter with a room service cart in front of him. Derrick noticed the state of Austin's shirt and silently questioned whether he should go away. "It's all right Derr, come on in." Austin replied to his roommate's unasked question.

"Well then, on tonight's menu we have a little of everything." Derrick wheeled the cart into the center of the room to better display the entrees to the couple. Raising the metal domes on two of the plates, "Chicken Parmesan for two or Filet Mignon for two." Then he raised the third dome from its plate, "Or two hot, greasy Big Macs and two sides of french fries with honey dipping sauce for the lady." Derrick pointed to a plate on the second shelf of the cart, "For dessert, chocolate covered strawberries with whipped cream or Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream. And our finest bottle of Cristal." Derrick pulled a bottle out of the ice bucket on the top of the cart and added in an undertone, "As long as you don't ask where it came from."

Austin and Sam both laughed at him because they knew Derrick likely swiped the champagne from his father's liquor store. And, aside from the fact that they were all under twenty-one, taking a $250 bottle of anything from his father was definitely grounds for a severe lashing. Unlike Sam, Austin had an awesome roommate.

"Derrick this is amazing." Sam looked over the contents of the cart again and then back up at the would-be waiter.

"Don't thank me, it was all his doing." He motioned toward Austin. "The idea, the entrees, everything. I'm just the poor schlub who got suckered into wearing this outfit."

Sam ruffled the dark red curls on the top of his head and kissed his cheek, "Well I think you look wonderful Derrick. Not as handsome as my Prince Charming over here, but definitely a close second."

Derrick looked over at his roommate, "Well Ames, I think that's my cue to leave. I wouldn't want to steal your girlfriend from you on your anniversary and all."

Sam closed the door behind Derrick after he left. Turning back to Austin, she didn't know what to say. "I can't believe you did all of this. This is just the sweetest thing."

"Ehh, it's nothing," Austin replied nonchalantly. "Well, even though we were interrupted from some very interesting activities, I'm famished. So, what would you like, the chicken or the …"

Sam stopped Austin from lifting the covers off of the plates by pulling his hands into hers and turning him to face her. Standing on her toes, she pressed her lips to his and softly said, "I love you Austin Ames."

Austin smiled, "I love you too Sam.

**

* * *

**

**One Week Later**

The sound of the freshman psychology book slamming shut echoed through the quiet university library earning Sam many angry glares from the people around her. She mouthed a 'sorry' to those closest to her, but they didn't seem at all forgiving. Deciding she had had enough studying for one night, she grabbed her many books that were strewn all over the table and shoved them back into her bag before heading back to her dorm.

After traveling the equivalent of three city blocks in the cold November air, Sam stopped in the main lobby of her dorm to get her mail before heading up to her room where, hopefully, her roommate from hell would not be home. Both she and Austin had had a tough week so they planned on a quiet night in with a rented movie and whatever else they might come up with. Maybe they could pick up from where they left off the weekend before.

There were no sounds coming from the other side of her door when Sam finally reached her room, which made her breathe a sigh of relief. After unlocking the door, Sam dropped her bags in the chair at her desk while reaching for the phone to call Austin. As she flipped through her mail, she listened to the ringing and then the answering machine that picked up, "Hey, you've reached Austin and Derrick's room. Leave a message."

"Hey Austin, it's me. I'm back from the library so come on over whenever you're ready." Sam hung up the phone and threw away the three credit card offers she received before reading the letter that Rhonda had sent her. Sam thought nothing of the fact that the last letter had no return address on it and that she didn't recognize the handwriting, but when she finally read it her entire world came crashing down around her.

_Sam,_

_I debated for a long time whether I should even get involved by telling you this but I don't think that anyone else was planning to. We never knew each other well so I don't think it's important that you know who I am, but I've always admired and respected you and I really feel that you have the right to know about this. I knowit will come as a shock to you and I'm sorry for any pain it will cause, but if it were me I would want to know. _

_As I'm sure you know, at the end of August, when North Valley High had its end of summer party, Austin was there but you weren't with him. To make a long story short, he got extremely drunk. So much so that he didn't know where he was and he barely knew who he was. I'm telling you this just in case it will affect any decisions you may make. He truly did not know what was going on, but he ended up leaving with Shelby._

_I know Shelby pretty well and just after you two left for Princeton she told me that she had slept with Austin that night.. Again, I debated whether or not to even get involved, but last week Shelby also told me that she was pregnant and I just couldn't stay out of it any longer. _

_Shelby said she's going to tell Austin and I'm sure she will because she has always been trying to figure out how to get him back. Hopefully Austin will be honest with you and tell you everything, but if he hasn't even told you that they slept together then I'm not sure what he will do._

_Sincerely,_

_A Friend_

Sam's hands were shaking so badly that she could barely keep hold of the paper and she couldn't even see through her tears. She didn't know what to do – part of her wanted to be rational and let Austin explain, while another part wanted to bite his head off, and still another part never wanted to see him again. Sam reached for the phone and dialed his number again but there was still no answer. She needed to clear her head so she grabbed her coat, locked the door behind her and headed out into the freezing cold night air.

Sam had been walking around campus for over an hour with still no feasible resolution. In a million years, she never would have thought Austin capable of this, but then she realized that she didn't really know him all that well. How could she know what kind of person he really was? People are always what you want them to be in the beginning of a relationship so that you'll like them. Yes, they had been together for about nine months at the time of the party which is far longer than 'the beginning of a relationship' but she still hadn't slept with Austin yet.. Maybe that was it, maybe he was getting sick of waiting and he knew Shelby would be more than willing to give it up one last time. And Sam didn't care what the letter said, in her opinion, being drunk was no excuse for anything.

But what if the letter was a hoax? Sure, the writer made every effort to sound sincere and truthful but what if it was just someone from back home trying to, yet again, cause problems for them? Sam remembered the pep rally and then Shelby's constant flirting with Austin even after he and Sam were together. And Sam couldn't forget the continual crises that Shelby always found herself in from which she, of course, called Austin to save her; like the time Shelby called him late one night saying that she had run out of gas on some back road in the valley. Since Austin is the kind soul that he is, he went to help her only to find that she still had a half a tank. So what if this was just another one of Shelby's scams? There was only one way Sam would know for sure.

Sam headed for Austin's dorm hoping that he was home by now because she honestly didn't know what she would do if he wasn't. When she finally reached the building, she took the steps two at a time until she reached the third floor and headed straight for Austin's room. Sam made a point to step away from the peephole when she knocked, but she wasn't sure why. It wasn't like Austin had any reason not to open the door if he saw her standing there. After a few seconds, she heard his voice as he approached the door, "I cannot believe this. How could this …" Austin opened the door in mid-sentence. "Sam?"

Even though Sam hadn't asked him a single question and Austin hadn't said anything to her other than her name, Sam's worst fears were confirmed when she saw Shelby sitting on his bed with a satisfied smile on her face.

"Sam, what are you doing here?"

Sam's brain was so muddled that she actually found herself wondering whether he was justified in asking her that; whether she even had a right to be there. She pushed it out of her mind, took a deep breath, and asked the question that she needed answered. "What I want to know is what is she doing here?"

Sam waved her hand in Shelby's direction but never took her eyes off Austin, even after Shelby started talking. "I came to tell Austin the good news," Shelby stood up and moved closer to the door while Austin gave her a look of warning, which she ignored.

"Wh … what news?" Sam asked cautiously.

"That he's going to be a father. We're going to be parents." Shelby leaned up against Austin and hung on his shoulder. "Aren't you going to congratulate us Sam?"

The look on Austin's face told Sam that he wasn't going to deny it and she felt like she had never seen him before in her life. The manbefore her was a complete stranger to her now. The pools that had formed in Sam's eyes completely spilled down her cheeks at the revelation while she backed away from the two standing in front of her. Austin tried to reach for her, "Sam, wait!"

"NO!" Sam nearly tripped in her haste to avoid his touch. "Don't you come any closer to me," she hissed.

Austin froze. He watched as Sam ran away from him and, in all probability, out of his life, but he couldn't move. She didn't want to have anything to do with him and he had no idea what to do. In the end, it was Shelby's voice that made it clear for him, "Don't worry about her Austin. She'll be fine."

Austin took off running in the same direction Sam had gone, but it wasn't until he hit the cold concrete steps in front of his dorm that he realized he didn't have any shoes on. "_SAM_!" Looking around, he could see no sign of which direction she had gone. The thought that he had lost her was practically crippling him at that moment and he couldn't keep his own tears from forming. "_SAAAAAAAAM_!"

Austin tried again to determine where she had gone, but he didn't see anyone around. "DAMN IT!" Austin's fist connected with the steel doorframe causing his knuckles to split open. He held it in his shirt to stop the bleeding and, with no other choice, Austin turned to head back into his dorm. That's when he noticed the small, crumpled piece of paper on the steps and stooped to pick it up. Austin ran his bloodied fingers over the tear-soaked spots on the page …

_Sam,_

_I debated for a long time whether I should even get involved by telling you this but I don't think that anyone else was planning to. We never knew each other well so I don't think it's important that you know who I am, but I've always …_


	3. Chapter 3

**To All My Readers**

First of all, thank you to everyone who has left me a review. I really love to hear what you all think of the story, be it plot , dialogue, characters, whatever. And to all of you anonymous readers, PLEASE LEAVE REVIEWS! If hardly anyone is reading, then I don't feel like writing – what's the point, right? But if you are reading, let me know what you think!

Also, I'm really on the fence as to whether this story should be rated T or M. I may end up changing it eventually due to upcoming content that I have planned, but for now I'm going to leave it as is. If anyone thinks that it should be changed to M now please leave me a review and let me know your thoughts. Thanks and enjoy the next chapter!

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**CHAPTER THREE**

Sam had somehow found herself in the middle of the Princeton Battlefield State Park . After leaving Austin's dorm, she knew she couldn't go back to her own because he would likely come looking for her there sooner or later, so she just kept walking as far away from campus as she could possibly get . Granted, a five-minute drive is not very far but it took her roughly thirty minutes to walk and by that time she was just about frozen solid. Sam fought the night air that , coupled with the rising wind, was growing colder by the minute. Her nose was running so badly from the combination of the cold and her crying that the congestion was giving her a killer headache. But in spite of it all, Sam had kept walking with her coat wrapped tightly around her and her head tucked into the collar to hide from the wind, desperately trying to forget everything that had happened in the last hour.

Now, sitting on a bench near the Princeton Battle Monument, the one question that kept running through her brain was, 'How could he?'. Sam just could not wrap her brain around the fact that, not only had Austin cheated on her with his ex-girlfriend, but he had gotten her pregnant as well. That pretty much meant that he was Shelby's from here on out. Sam was slowly realizing that she would likely have little place in his life anymore even if she were to forgive him and that made her cry even harder. And that was if he even wanted her to have a place in his life any longer now that he knew he was going to be a father. The irony of the whole situation was that Austin was honorable to a fault and he wouldn't leave Shelby to deal with this alone. Where the hell was that honor on the night of the end of summer party? The night when she and Austin were, supposedly, still a happy and committed couple?

Sam wiped the tears from her eyes for what seemed like the millionth time just as her cell phone rang. It was pointless to check because Sam knew who it was and she knew she wasn't going to answer it, but she pulled it out of her pocket to see the caller ID, more out of habit than anything. 'Austin Dorm' flashed across the screen, as she knew it would. Each ring of the phone caused another memory to flash through Sam's mind as she held it in her hands – the night of their first kiss when he chose her over the football game and everyone else; her birthday when he took her for a romantic, all-day getaway to the beach in Santa Barbara where he gave her the most beautiful drop pearl pendant necklace; Sam held the necklace in her fingers as her memory settled on the night of the end of summer party when he showed up at her house wanting nothing more than to be with _her_.

"Damn it! Why didn't I just go to that party with him?" Sam cursed the night air that surrounded her. "None of this would have happened if I was there." Sam tilted her head to the side so that her hair would fall forward and she could attempt to finger through some of the tangles embedded in it by the wind, smelling the static in it as it whipped into her face. When her cell phone started ringing again, she moved to turn it off completely, but this time the caller ID said 'Carter Cell' and she answered it immediately. "Car … Carter?"

"Sam? Sam, is that you?" The 'worried father' hormone in him completely took over when Carter heard Sam's voice breaking. "What's the matter?"

Sam completely lost it . Her sentences were incomplete and incoherent ; she was choking on her tears; and she wasn't even really sure if it was Carter on the other end of the phone. When Sam finally started speaking, all Carter heard was, "Oh my … my God … Carter. He … he chea … and Shelby … and he didn't deny … she's preg … and she was here … that party … I got a letter … why didn't I go …"

"Sam, honey, you have to slow down and take a deep breath," Carter interrupted. "I can't understand a thing you are saying."

Sam stopped mid-sentence and did as he said. She took a deep breath in through her mouth which caused her to choke when the cold air filled her lungs but she finally calmed down just slightly so that she could tell Carter what had happened. "Austin slept with Shelby at the end of summer party and now she's here – here in his dorm room and pregnant with his baby!"

"_WHAT_! You're kidding, right Sam?"

"Would I joke about something like this?"

"Well, no, but how the hell did that happen? I never thought he would do anything like that ."

Sam sighed and whispered quietly into the phone, "I never thought he would either."

"Sam, where are you? I'll come get you and we can talk."

"I'm in a park a ways down from school. I had to get away from there; from him and from her."

"Okay, well go back to your dorm and I'll come get you."

"Carter, you're not going to come and get me. You're over and hour away and plus I don't want to go back to my dorm because he will probably come there looking for me at some point and I soooo do not want to see him."

"Well then, how about you come here? Today's Friday, you can get away from school for a few days and stay with me for the weekend. We have plenty of room and my roommate went home for the weekend anyway."

"I can't Carter. Austin used my car today and he still has the keys; I am not going to him to get them back."

"So take a cab."

Sam smiled at his persistence, "Carter, come on. A cab from Princeton to New York City would probably cost well over a couple hundred dollars. Plus, I have a project to work on so I can't spend the whole weekend in the city."

"Sam, I will pay for whatever mode of transportation you choose, but either you come here or I come there. I am not going to leave you alone at a time like this."

Sam seriously contemplated the idea. Getting away from school and especially Austin for a couple of days was extremely tempting but when the reality of that thought clicked in her brain, Sam's tears came back full force. She never thought there would come a day when being away from Austin would actually be a tempting idea but here she was, trying to figure out if she could actually get away from there for at least a little while.

Sam watched what she thought was a slightly odd shaped dog run into some nearby trees before answering, "I don't know Carter, I just …"

"Hey, I bet you could take a train, it probably isn't more than fifty bucks." Carter moved across the small room to his computer and logged on to the Internet to check the Amtrak website. "Here." Carter hesitated, "Okay, well a one-way ticket is only $43.00 but there is a train that leaves at 8:33 from Princeton Junction."

"Carter, I really don't want to spend $86.00 on a train ride when I could just drive there and only spend about $30.00 in gas."

"Then go get your keys from Austin."

"Hell no!"

Carter smiled knowingly, "Sam, I am not taking no for an answer. Now you either let me come there or I am going to call Amtrak and have a round-trip ticket waiting for you. Can you get to Princeton Junction before the train leaves?"

Sam looked at her watch, "Yeah, I guess. I'll have to call a cab but it's only about a ten minute drive once it picks me up."

"Okay then. You do that and I'll call Amtrak."

"No Carter, it's okay. You don't need to pay for the ticket, I can do it."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes I'm sure. I'm just cheap, you know that."

"Oh I know." Carter smiled to himself remembering a time back in Los Angeles when Sam had driven completely across town just to save three cents a gallon on gas. It didn't matter that half of the money she saved was used up in gas to actually get there; to Sam, she still saved money and that's what counted. "Well then I'll see you at Penn Station when you get in, okay?"

Sam rubbed her eyes, "Okay. Hey Carter?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

"No problem sweetie. I'll see you soon."

Sam hung up the phone and called a taxi to bring her to the train station. When she finally got there, she bought a roundtrip ticket to return early the next morning because, scholastically speaking, she couldn't afford to spend all weekend in the city. After that , she headed straight to the bathroom, "Oh my God! I look like Ozzy Osborne after being hit by a bus." Sam leaned over the counter to check her reflection in the mirror more closely. Her lips were swollen and her eyes were puffy and bloodshot. The very little make-up she wore had managed to make itself the most noticeable thing on her face by leaving eyeliner smeared across her lids and mascara streaked down her cheeks. Sam tried to run her fingers through her hair again and as they slid down to the ends of the strands, her eyes were drawn to the beautiful pearl that hung daintily around her neck. Holding it in her fingers again, Sam couldn't help but wonder what Austin was doing at that moment …

Austin paced his one-hundredth circle around his twenty by twenty square foot dorm room, debating how on earth he was going to find Sam and somehow fix what had happened. She wasn't answering her cell phone or the phone in her dorm. He wanted to give her some time to herself to absorb everything that had happened; actually they both needed that time really. But he fully intended on going over to her dorm sooner or later, probably sooner, to try and talk to her. The problem was that if she wasn't answering the phone in her dorm because she truly wasn't there, then he didn't know where to look for her. He still had her keys so she couldn't drive anywhere. They had only been at Princeton for two months so they didn't have any favorite hangouts yet and neither one of them knew the area very well. That made him start to worry – what if she was wandering around somewhere lost or had roamed into a dangerous neighborhood? If something happened to her, he would never be able to forgive himself.

Each time Austin completed a circle of his pacing he came face to face with Shelby sitting on his bed. "Austin, sit down. You're worrying over nothing. I'm sure she's fine and I think there are more important things we need to discuss right now."

Austin stopped mid-stride with his foot still raised in the air to take another step. Slowly, his heel touched the floor and he stood with his hands on his hips, staring down at Shelby as if she were from another planet. "Shelby, you need to leave. I cannot deal with you right now so please just go back to where you came from."

Shelby's eyelashes began fluttering and her lip started to quiver as if on cue, "Austin, how … You're throwing me out? I've just told you that I'm pregnant with your baby and you're telling me to leave?"

Austin knew how it sounded, but he honestly wasn't trying to just dismiss her and forget about her. He just needed time to clear his head and he couldn't possibly do it with her there. Austin squeezed his eyes shut and ran his hands through his hair, briefly tugging on the short follicles before sitting down on the bed. He looked seriously into Shelby's eyes and spoke calmly, "Shelby look, I am not throwing you out . I just need time to process all of this and figure out what to do next . You can't come in here and lay all of this on me then expect me to immediately become the happy and supportive father-to-be. I'm sorry if that's what you were expecting but you're not going to get that from me anytime soon. I'm not saying that I won't accept the responsibility of my actions but Shelby," Austin paused to make sure she understood his next words, "This doesn't change anything between you and me. I am in love with Sam and I am going to do everything in my power to make her forgive me."

Shelby released a small laugh as if Austin were just being silly. "But Austin, come on. I'm the one who's pregnant, not Sam. You're place is with me now." She took her hands in his, "We're finally going to be a family Austin."

Austin wrenched his hands away from her and stood up to start pacing again, "Shelby stop! You know damn well we never had a fairy tale relationship full of happy times and romance so don't act like we're just going to rekindle everything and don't delude yourself into thinking that this baby is going to magically create a perfect little life for us." Austin stood in front of Shelby and bent over to place his hands on his knees in order to look her square in the eyes, "Listen to me very carefully Shelby. I – love – Sam. This," Austin waved his index finger back and forth between the two of them. "This doesn't change anything."

"You know what?" Shelby stood up so quickly that she and Austin almost knocked heads. "Fine. I will go back to my hotel. But I'm warning you Austin, you had better call me tomorrow if you know what's good for you. I would not want to be in your shoes when Daddy finds out that you tried to brush me off."

Austin rolled his eyes, "Whatever Shelby. Please just go." Shelby gave him one last 'hmmph' then grabbed her purse and slammed the door behind her.

'Finally', Austin thought to himself. Now that he had a little room to breathe, he could try to sort through some of this. The thing that pissed him off the most was that he couldn't remember a single second of it . If he had remembered sleeping with Shelby, he most certainly would have told Sam before now. He saw how affairs and secrets had destroyed his parents and, regardless of how badly he screwed up, he would not have lied to Sam about it . That's probably a big part of why she was so upset . Sam probably thought that Austin had been hiding it from her all along in hopes that she would never find out . Austin searched his brain again for some recollection of that night but found nothing. Running his hand over his face, he muttered to himself, "How could I have let this happen?" But regardless of why or how everything happened, Austin knew that finding and talking to Sam was the first thing he needed to do. He grabbed his phone yet again and dialed her cell phone, "Damn it Sam." Austin's eyes started to burn with blurred visions of his life crumbling around him. "Please baby. Please, _please_ answer your phone."

Sam's train pulled in to Penn Station around 9:30 and Carter was waiting for her just as he promised. By the time they had taken the subway back to his dorm, she had pretty much told him everything she knew about what had happened. After that, they had spent the remainder of the past six hours catching up and with Carter trying everything he could to make Sam laugh – she loved him for that .

Now that she had calmed down slightly, Sam was able to relax just a little but she still didn't know what she was going to say to Austin when she finally had to confront him. That was a knot that just kept tightening in her stomach. The thought of seeing his face scared her; she didn't know if she would have the strength to hold her ground or if she would just fall into his arms and never let him go.

"So who sent you the letter?" Carter asked, interrupting Sam's thoughts of self-despair while handing her the water she had asked for.

"I have no idea. There was no return address, it wasn't signed and I didn't recognize the handwriting. Actually, I think I have …" Sam grabbed her coat and reached into the pocket, pulling out a piece of paper. "Well this is the envelope," she said as she handed the paper to Carter then reached back into her pocket to find the letter. When she couldn't find it in the same pocket, Sam checked all the others in her coat and on her clothes but found nothing. "It's not here. Damn it, I must have dropped it somewhere." Suddenly Sam looked down at something that had rubbed up against the insides of her ankles. "Well hello there. Who are … Carter! Oh my God, what are you feeding this thing?"

Carter looked down at the large cat at Sam's feet before turning back to the envelope in his hand. "Don't ask me. She's my roommate's not mine."

Sam looked at him incredulously, "But Carter, this animal is the size of a small dog!" Sam went back to petting the cat , "Hey cutie pie. What's your name?"

"Princess Fattypus," Carter answered for the cat, not removing his eyes from the paper in his hands.

"Carter! That is not her name."

"Yes, it is."

"How could you name her that? You're going to give her a complex or something."

"Again, she's my roommate's not mine. Besides, we call her Princess for short so the only complex she has is that she is too magnificent for all of us." Looking more closely at the envelope, Carter changed the subject, "Sam, this envelope isn't even postmarked. It wasn't actually mailed to you."

Sam stood up and moved closer to him to see the envelope. "What are you talking about?"

Carter pointed to the top right corner of the paper, "There's a stamp that whomever wrote it put on it , but there's no postmark stamp that the post office uses to mark when and where it came from."

"So the person who wrote this put it in my mailbox personally?" Sam asked running her fingers over the non-postmarked postage stamp.

"Or had someone do it for them maybe," Carter added.

"But there's no one else from our class at North Valley High here at Princeton with us, not that I know of anyway. So who would do that?"

"I don't know sweetie." Carter looked sympathetically at his friend, "But it seems a little strange if you ask me."


	4. Chapter 4

Sorry about my delay in updating everyone. I was out of town for a few days plus I've been working on a One Tree Hill story that got me a little side-tracked. I was kind of rushing when I wrote this chapter so hopefully it won't suck too badly. Enjoy and thanks for all of the great reviews. Please keep them coming!

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**CHAPTER FOUR**

**The Next Morning**

Sam awoke to a violent shaking. A strange and unfamiliar ceiling hovered above her causing panic to sweep through her nerves. Her worst fear of reliving the Northridge earthquake coursed through her and Sam stiffened every muscle in an attempt to still her quaking body. For a moment, she even thought she heard her father's voice, "Sam. Sam, wake up." She finally opened her eyes to see Carter standing over the bed she was sleeping on with his hand on her shoulder, rocking her back and forth. "Sam, they changed rehearsals this morning. I have to be there by eight ."

"Umm hmm, okay," she mumbled while attempting to roll over again before Carter caught her shoulder.

"Sam. Don't fall back to sleep because I won't be here to wake you up. You said your train leaves at ten this morning?"

Rubbing her eyes, Sam tried to focus on the question, "Yeah, something like that ."

"Well I might be able to cut out for a little while to see you off."

"Carter, don't be ridiculous. I can make it to the train station perfectly fine on my own."

"Are you sure?"

Sam rolled her eyes, "Yes Carter, I'm sure. Now go before you're late."

"Okay, but call me later so that I know you got in okay."

"Yes dad." Sam replied smartly.

Carter hollered over his shoulder as he left the room, "Just humor me, all right?"

Sam stared at the ceiling while listening to the sound of the door opening followed by the sound of it closing. The silence that remained was deafening. In a matter of hours she would be back in New Jersey with, in all probability, Austin standing right in front of her. Sam knew that he loved her and that he wasn't going to let her just walk away from him, but she wondered what his ultimate decision would be. The answer to that question was already hovering in her brain though because Austin was born to do the right thing and he would not leave his baby. Sam would never ask him to either.

As Sam continued to stare at the ceiling, contemplating whether to climb out from the warmth that her blankets provided, she stretched her legs until her feet hit something hard. Looking down at the end of the bed, Sam saw Princess Fattypus at her feet, laying on her back and curled into a semi-circle. The top of her head was against the mattress so she was looking at Sam upside down with big, round, innocent eyes. Sam sat up and began rubbing the cat's stomach to which Princess Fattypus started purring and wiggling like a big furry fish out of water.

Finally, after a few more minutes, Sam knew she couldn't put it off any longer and forced herself to get up. Even though she had only gotten about three hours sleep, there was too much running through her brain now to get any more. By the time she had taken a shower Sam still had about an hour and a half before she had to be at the train station so, since she was in New York City after all, she headed out for some serious speed shopping. After taking a very quick scenic tour through Central Park down 65th street , Sam found herself in front of Bergdorf Goodman on 5th Avenue and just as she was walking through the front doors she slammed smack into someone, her forehead colliding with an extremely hard chin. "Ow," Sam moaned as she held her forehead and waited for the stars to clear. She was still staring at the ground trying to get her eyes to focus when she heard a familiar voice.

"Sam, is that you?"

Sam's head shot up so quickly, it caused more stars to circle around in her eyes but she had to see if it was really him. "Ryan? Oh my God, Ryan!" Sam reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck so tightly she thought she would leave marks on his skin. "What are you doing here?"

Ryan pulled back and looked at her a little strangely, "I go to school here remember?"

Sam smiled sheepishly, "Oh yeah, right . So NYU is around here somewhere?"

"Um, well no. It's at the other end of the city actually but I have an off-campus apartment a few blocks from here and I was shopping for a birthday present for my sister." Ryan held up a bag he held in his right hand.

Sam couldn't resist hugging him again, "It's so good to see you!"

Ryan returned her hug lightly, "You too," he said before looking into her face again. "So what are you doing here?"

Sam hesitated. She didn't know how she was going to explain this to people but she knew it was only a matter of time before everyone started asking. "Um, I came to see Carter. It's … it's a long story."

Ryan looked hurt, "You came to see Carter but not me?"

"No Ryan, it's not like that . It was a last minute trip crammed into a very limited amount of time. I got in last night at 9:30 and I have to leave in like an hour. If it were planned, you know I would've come to see you."

"Sure," Ryan replied disbelievingly.

"Come on Ryan. You know I would have."

Ryan laughed at her, "Yeah I know." He looked at his watch before continuing, "Well you have some time now and my apartment isn't far away," he gestured down the block with his left hand. "Why don't you come over and we can catch up a little?"

Sam then looked at her own watch, "Um, I'm not sure if I'll have enough time Ryan."

"Come on," he pleaded. "We can warm up a little, I'll show you around my place and then you'll be off."

As Sam watched her breath turn to smoke when it hit the cold air, the idea of getting warm was very comforting. "Well okay, but just for a little while."

Ryan led her back up 5th Avenue for a couple of blocks before turning left on West 59th Street. He started to climb a set of stairs to a building that overlooked the south end of Central Park when Sam stopped him, "This is it?" Ryan just nodded as he put his key in the front door. "Sheesh Ryan," Sam looked up at the large brownstone with three, four-foot high arched windows before turning around again to look at the park behind them. "This is gorgeous."

"Well it's home," Ryan replied as they climbed the three flights of stairs to his apartment . He showed Sam through the two moderately sized bedrooms, the bathroom, and then the kitchen until they ended up in the living room. Sam was just lowering herself to the couch while Ryan was about to sit in a nearby armchair when he finally asked the question, "So, how's Austin?"

It took about a minute before Sam even made a sound and then it was only a strangled sob. When her lip began to quiver, Sam covered her face with her hands and then completely broke down. "I … I … "

In a panic, Ryan rushed to the couch and fell to his knees in front of Sam. He grabbed her hands and held them in his, "Sam what happened?"

"Ryan …" Sam's breathing started to accelerate rapidly and her chest began heaving up and down. "I … I … I …"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Ryan placed his hands on the sides of Sam's face, "Sam honey, breathe okay? You're going to hyperventilate so try and calm down." He smoothed her hair out of her face as Sam tried to take a deep breath. Slowly, her breathing began to steady and she looked up at him with tear soaked cheeks. Ryan wiped her tears away with his thumbs, "Are you okay?" Sam barely nodded. "Okay, well keep breathing. I'm going to get you some hot tea. I'll be right back."

In a matter of minutes, Ryan had returned with a steaming mug in his hands that he gave to Sam. She held it between her shaking palms as she raised the mug to her lips and Ryan kept one hand underneath just in case she lost her grip. The hot liquid immediately soothed her nerves and further calmed her breathing. Sam took another sip before lowering the mug to her lap and Ryan returned to his knees on the floor in front of her. He looked at her sympathetically, "Do you want to talk about it?"

Sam inhaled deeply. She wasn't sure whether she did want to talk about it or where to begin even though there really wasn't much to tell. Finally, she shakily released the air she had been holding in her lungs, "Do you remember the end of summer party in August?" Ryan nodded in response. "Well … um, apparently Austin slept with Shelby and now she's pregnant."

"What?" In confirmation of his astonishment, Sam just nodded and closed her eyes tightly causing more tears to spill down her cheeks. "Oh my God. Sam, I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault Ryan." Sam looked up at him with heavy eyes, the combination of her lack of sleep and the hot tea taking a toll on her.

"Maybe not , but I was at that party. There may have been something I could have done if I was paying attention."

"Don't be silly Ryan. If anyone's to blame it's me."

"Sam, how could this be your fault?"

She swallowed the remaining liquid from the mug then handed it to Ryan. Wiping the tears from her face with her fingertips, Sam explained with bitterness more at herself than anyone, "Because I wouldn't sleep with him. Actually, we almost did that night until Rhonda came home but before that I wasn't ready. That's what I get for being so selfish I guess."

Ryan grabbed her hands in his and forced her to meet his eyes. "Sam, I don't want to ever hear you say something like that again. You not being ready to sleep with Austin or with anyone is not selfish. That is one of the most important decisions you will ever make. It's a decision you need to make for yourself and live with for the rest of your life. You cannot let anyone push you into it . Plus, you not sleeping with Austin is not the reason he went and slept with Shelby. I don't know why he did it but I can guarantee you that it would've happened even if you had already slept with him. It's in a person's nature Sam.

"Yeah maybe," Sam replied. Even though what he said made sense, it did little to make her feel any better.

Ryan watched her fight to keep her eyes open. He grabbed a blanket from the back of the couch and spoke to her softly. "Sam honey, why don't you lie down and get some sleep."

Sam felt the hand on her shoulder gently push her over until she was lying on her side on the couch. Although her body was winning the battle, her brain was attempting a fight even as she was snuggling into the couch pillow, "Ummm … no. I need … I need to go … "

"Don't worry Sam." He watched as she sank further into the cushions, giving into the sleep that was overtaking her. "You'll get home." Ryan lowered his voice to a whisper, "But not before the time is right ." Once he was sure that Sam was asleep, Ryan started for the kitchen with her empty mug in his hands before the ringing of her cell phone stopped him. Frantically searching Sam's coat pockets, he finally found the offensive noisemaker and held his hand over it so that the ringing couldn't be heard. As he looked down at the caller ID, Ryan saw what he expected, 'Austin Cell'. He smiled contentedly and spoke quietly to the object in his hand, "No, no. Not now honey. It's not time yet ."

**

* * *

**

**Later That Night**

Austin looked nervously at his shoelaces while running his hands over his shirt to smooth the wrinkles he had neglected to iron out . It was seven pm and nearly twenty-four hours had passed since his life had taken a complete one hundred and eighty degree turn. Sam still hadn't answered any of his calls to her cell phone or her dorm so here he stood, facing his moment of truth outside of her room, trying to muster up enough courage to make himself knock on the thick wood in front of him.

Austin's nervousness was stemming from a few factors – was Sam even going to be on the other side of that door? If she was there, would she let him in? If she did let him in, what was he going to say to her? In the end, it didn't matter though and he knew that. The only thing that mattered to him right now was that she was all right. Once he knew that for sure, then he could figure out a way, if there was one, to fix what had happened.

With a deep breath, Austin raised his right hand to gently knock on the door in front of him and didn't look up from his shoelaces until the door finally opened almost a minute later. It was then that he saw Tasha standing on the other side of the threshold and his heart dropped to his knees. After swallowing the lump in his throat, Austin finally spoke, "Oh hey Tasha. Is Sam here?"

The girl's cheeks reddened as she answered him. "Hi Austin. How are you?" He just smiled in response so she continued, "Um, no Sam's not here. I haven't seen her since yesterday just before she left for her last class."

That wasn't good. The panic started to return quickly and Austin tried to think of a way to get more information without divulging the fact that his life was in crisis. He ran his fingers through his hair while trying to sound casual, "Oh, well maybe she popped in while you were out somewhere."

"I don't think so. I got in around eleven last night and she wasn't here. She could've come home and left again before I got up but her bed doesn't looked slept in." Tasha motioned to the bed that sat about six feet behind her before continuing. "And I know she hasn't been back at all today because I've been here the whole time studying." Tasha paused and looked at him with concern. "Is something wrong?"

Austin's head shot up in response to her question. "What? Oh … uh … no, nothing's wrong. I, uh … I just needed … needed a phone number for a friend of ours. I'm pretty sure she has it in her address book." Well it wasn't a complete lie. Now that he still didn't know where Sam was, he definitely wanted to call as many people as he could to find out if they have heard from her, the first person being Carter. Since Austin didn't have Carter's number himself, he had to try and get it from Sam's address book. "Would you mind if I just grab her address book real quick?"

"Sure, come on in. Take whatever you want ." As she held the door open and stepped out of the way so Austin could enter the room, he began to understand why Sam wasn't all that fond of her. Anyone that wouldn't even hesitate to let someone else come in the room and take absolutely anything, wasn't someone he would really want as a friend.

Austin just walked by her and headed straight towards Sam's half of the room, hoping that Sam hadn't hidden her address book in some obscure place. He breathed a sigh of relief when he found it quickly in the center desk drawer. "Found it ." Austin held the small leather-bound book up in his hand and smiled politely at Tasha as he walked back to the door. "So thanks. I'll, uh, see you around."

"No problem. You know Austin," Tasha suddenly stopped him by placing her hand on his chest before he could pass through the door, "If there's ever anything I can do for you, I hope you know that you can always call me."

Austin's eyes lowered and followed the path that she traced down the center of his chest with her index finger, jumping back when it reached his belly button. "Well, uh … okay Tasha. Thanks a lot. That's um, that's really nice of you. I have to be going though." Austin quickly brushed past her before practically sprinting down the hallway. Tasha's actions reminded him a lot of Shelby and he suddenly felt nauseous but finally, he reached the stairwell and completely forgot about her. He needed to focus on finding Sam and he prayed to God that Carter would know something.

Austin flew down the stairs while simultaneously flipping to the 'F' section of the book in his hands and quickly found the entry for Farrell. When he was finally outside the dorm, Austin found the nearest bench and dialed the number written next to Carter's name.

"Hello?"

Austin took a deep breath, "Carter? It's Austin."

"Austin. What do you want?" Carter replied curtly.

Okay, so he knows. "Obviously you've talked to Sam," Austin said defeated.

"Yes, I have talked to her," Carter answered matter-of-factly.

Austin forced his eyes shut when he felt them start to burn, "Carter, look, I can't even imagine what you must think of me but, right now, I just need to talk to Sam. She won't answer my calls and I know that she's angry and upset and I'm probably the last person that she wants to talk to." He tried not to choke on his words as his voice started to crack, "Carter, I just need to know that she's safe. Have you seen her Carter? Do you know where she is?"

Carter listened quietly to the broken voice on the other end of the phone and a very small part of him actually felt badly for Austin. That was mainly because he was also worried about Sam. Her train was due back in New Jersey at eleven that morning and she was supposed to call him when she got in but she never did. It was now almost seven-thirty and she still hadn't called. That was not like Sam. Finally, even though there was also a part of him that wanted to let Austin suffer, Carter decided to tell him what he knew. "She came here last night , Austin."

"What? She's there with you?" A huge wave of relief began to spread through him until Carter's next words closed it off.

"No, she's not here with me now. She took a train here last night and she was scheduled to take the train back at ten this morning. It's only about an hour ride and she was supposed to call me but I still haven't heard from her."

Suddenly, all of Austin's worst nightmares started playing out in slow motion. There were flashes of Sam by herself, lost, cold and hungry while others were images of her lying in an alley somewhere badly beaten and raped. The worst were images of her lying dead somewhere and lost to him forever. Austin shook his head to clear his brain. If he let himself think that way and dwell on the worst , he wasn't going to be of any use to Sam. "Carter, I just talked to her roommate. She said Sam hasn't been there since yesterday afternoon." At this point, he couldn't keep the pools that had formed in his eyes from overflowing down his cheeks. "If she had been on that train this morning, don't you think she would've gone back to her dorm at some point , at least for a little while?"

"Probably. But even if she hadn't , she still would've called me because she knows I'm anal about that ."

Austin was trying to think as clearly as possible but it was getting harder by the second. "Okay, well did she say anything about going anywhere before her train left? Sightseeing or anything?"

"No she didn't . I woke her up to tell her that my rehearsals had been moved up and then I had to leave. Does she know anyone else in the city?"

"No, I don't think so." It took Austin a second before he remembered. "Wait, Ryan goes to NYU. Maybe she went to see him."

Austin stood up and took off in the direction of his dorm, "Carter, will you keep trying her phone? If she's going to answer it for anyone, it would be you. I'll call Ryan and see if he's heard from her then I'm catching the first train to New York."

"All right ," Carter answered. "Call me if you find out anything, okay?"

"Okay, and Carter?"

"Yeah?"

"You … you'll do the same, right?"

"Yeah Austin. I'll call you."


	5. Chapter 5

First of all, I am _sooooooooooooo_ sorry that this has taken so long. Between work, school and planning a wedding, I have been extremely busy. In addition, as some of you already know, there was an author by the penname of Starrfiree who had blatantly plagiarized the first four chapters of my story. I wanted to make sure that issue was over before I gave him/her any more material to copy.

I cannot even express how much that has infuriated me. Plagiarism is a crime regardless of the fact that the story is only on a fan fiction site. I sent an urgent message to the support center on January 22, but I have yet to receive a response.

On the bright side however, when I first became aware of the problem (many, many thanks to BookReader2007), I sent emails to as many of my readers as I could to get the word out and some of you left reviews on Starrfiree's story about the plagiarism. Very shortly thereafter, the story disappeared, as did Starrfiree's profile and three or four other stories he/she had posted.

So at least the copy of my story was taken down, but that doesn't necessarily mean that Starrfiree hasn't made a new profile and posted under other categories. I do want to express my sincerest appreciation to those of you who supported me in this whole issue and left reviews on my behalf. Thank you soooooo much!

Anyway, here's Chapter Five. I hope you enjoy it but I'm not sure if you all are going to like the direction I've taken with this story. Please read and review!

**CHAPTER FIVE**

Upon opening her eyes, Sam realized yet again that she was in an unfamiliar place. As she slowly pushed herself into a sitting position on the couch, she looked around while her mind started to remember. She was alone in Ryan's living room but the noise coming from one of the other rooms told her she wasn't alone in the apartment. Her eyes eventually caught sight of a clock on the table that read 7:07 and she started to panic. When she had first run into Ryan it was already after eight thirty in the morning, so either Ryan's clock was completely wrong or she had been sleeping all day if not longer.

"Ryan?" Sam called timidly as she had no idea who was actually in the apartment with her. When no one answered, she spoke more loudly, "Ryan?" The faint sound of footsteps could then be heard growing louder as they got closer to the living room where Sam was sitting when finally, Ryan appeared in the doorway.

"Sam, you're awake." Ryan started towards her with a cup in his hand that he held out for her. "Here, I made you some more tea."

Sam ignored the cup for the moment, "Ryan, what time is it?"

Ryan turned around to look at the same clock that Sam had just seen, "Um it's about ten after seven."

Sam gave him a puzzled look, "Ten after seven … at night?"

Ryan sighed and looked at the floor before answering her quietly, "Yes."

"Oh my God! Ryan, how could you have let me sleep all day?" Sam turned away from him to pull back the curtains at the window behind the couch, hoping to see daylight that would refute Ryan's answer. Instead, she only saw darkness broken by a lone streetlamp consuming the frame. As she sat back on the couch, Sam ran her hands through her hair and exhaled in frustration. "Ryan, I told you I had to leave. I have so much studying to get done and a project to work on. Why didn't you wake me up?"

Ryan knelt down in front of her and placed the cup in her hands. "Sam, I'm sorry. I know you said you had to leave but you were so exhausted that you practically fell asleep mid-sentence." Ryan held his hands over hers on the cup and urged Sam to drink some of the tea. "Plus, you were so upset about Austin and that letter that you almost hyperventilated. Don't you remember? I'm sorry, but I thought it was more important that you get some rest."

Even though she was angry, Sam had to agree with Ryan a little – she was exhausted. All of her muscles felt like they weighed about fifty pounds each and, if she laid down again, Sam was sure she could probably sleep for another twelve hours. It was hard for her to even keep her eyes open.

"Hey, what's going on?" Both Sam and Ryan turned to see a guy standing in the doorway. He was almost six feet tall with dark hair, a goat-tee and golden-brown skin.

Ryan stood to walk to the doorway where he put his hand on the man's back and pulled him into the room. "Kirk, I want you to meet Sam." Ryan gestured to her sitting on the couch, "Sam, this is my roommate Kirk." As the man moved closer to shake Sam's hand, she noticed that he had the same build as Ryan but his eyes were a crystal blue; the same blue that she had so willingly let herself drown in every time she was with Austin. It caught her off guard so much that all she could do was stare at him until Ryan finally brought her out of her daze, "Sam? Are you all right?"

Sam blinked a few times to clear her head, before extending her hand to him. "Sorry. It's nice to meet you Kirk."

Ryan pushed between them and knelt down in front of her again. "Sam honey, why aren't you drinking your tea? Here," Ryan gently guided her hand that held the cup to her mouth and held it there until she drank some. "There you go. Listen, you just finish you're tea then I promise we will go straight to the train station. I'm sure they can switch your ticket around without too many problems."

As Sam started on another sip of tea, Ryan's words suddenly set off an alarm in her brain that caused her to choke on the hot liquid that was slowly sliding down her throat. Sam started to cough so violently that she ended up spitting the tea still in her mouth out onto Ryan's shirt. As she braced herself on the couch with her free hand in a futile attempt to stop the room from spinning, Sam tried to catch her breath which was also a near impossibility. It took several minutes before she regained her breathing and was able to look into Ryan's eyes as he patted her back.

"Are you okay Sam?" Ryan asked with a look of concern on his face.

Sam just stared at him with a mixed look of hurt, confusion and anger. "R … Ryan," she choked quietly, "How did you know I was taking a train?"

Ryan's eyes widened a little as he thought of how to respond. "Um … well, you had mentioned that you took the train here so I just assumed you were also taking a train back."

"No Ryan, I don't think I did mention taking the train to New York, back to Princeton or anywhere. In fact," Sam remembered a comment Ryan had made about five minutes earlier. "Now that I think of it, I don't recall ever telling you about that letter that I got either." She watched his cheeks redden slightly then continued in a stern voice, "What's going on Ryan?"

Ryan avoided her eyes, instead looking at the carpet underneath his knees. Finally, he stood and started pacing the room. "Okay Sam, I'm the one who wrote the letter. I knew what had happened between Austin and Shelby over the summer. Part of me wanted to tell you because she shouldn't be able get away with something like that but I knew how happy Austin was with you. It was the first time I had ever seen Austin that happy so there was a bigger part of me that just wanted to leave it alone and not ruin anything for him."

"For him?" Sam couldn't believe what she was hearing, "Ryan, what about me?"

"I … I mean, for the both of you. You know what I mean." Ryan smiled embarrassed, "So anyway, I went to Princeton and got your roommate … "

"You came to Princeton?" Sam asked in surprise.

"Yes I did. Tasha agreed to put the letter in your mailbox for me and I was going to wait until you read it and then go see you."

Sam breathed a heavy sigh of frustration, "But why bother writing the letter Ryan? Why not just tell me in person then?"

"Um, well I … I didn't want you to be angry with me for not telling you sooner. I don't know, I … I guess I wasn't really thinking. Anyway, I was going to go see you but you ran off to Austin's and then to that park and by that time you were so upset I wasn't sure what to say to you so I just watched you from the trees."

Sam thought back to that night she sat crying her eyes out in the Princeton Battlefield State Park. "That thing in the trees … that was you? I thought it was a dog."

Ryan ran his hand through his hair and smiled sheepishly, "No, it wasn't a dog, it was me. I was trying to stay low and out of sight; I didn't want to scare you. I ended up taking the same train back to New York as you did and then as soon as I saw that Carter was there to pick you up I went home. I was going to call you in the morning but, coincidentally enough, I ran into you at Bergdorf's.

Even though Ryan's explanation seemed innocent enough and she didn't think he had meant to hurt her, Sam was still angry. It had been over two months since that party when Austin and Shelby had slept together and Sam couldn't help but think about all of the occasions since then when she and Austin came so close to finally making love. That would've been the biggest mistake of her life. She had been so sure about it then but now Sam was realizing that Austin didn't care enough about her to keep from sleeping with Shelby or to tell her about it. Obviously to him, it was no big deal which told Sam that she wasn't as important to Austin as he always made it seem.

Sam pinched the bridge of her nose with her free hand and looked up when Ryan nudged her arm that still held the cup of tea, "Drink your tea Sam. You'll feel better."

For some reason, that was Sam's breaking point and the walls started to shake with the echoes of her voice, "I DON'T WANT THE GOD DAMNED TEA RYAN!" In her anger, she stood up quickly to shove Ryan in the chest and the mug full of tea landed on the floor.

"DAMN IT SAM!" Sam watched as Ryan slowly tilted his head to look up at her from the mess on the floor. As the color in his face turned three shades of red, his nostrils flared, his eyes narrowed, his lips were clenched and then his breathing grew so fast it made her take a defensive step away from him. Suddenly, Sam noticed how dizzy she was and that her eyelids were closing against her will. She tried to brace herself on the arm of the couch but lost her balance and fell onto it completely.

Before she could attribute her dizziness to the fact that she had stood up so quickly, she saw a small smile appear on Ryan's face. It was then that she connected his extreme reaction to her spilling the tea with the fact that she had drank some that morning and that he now kept trying to get her to drink more of it. With almost every last ounce of energy that she had, Sam lifted her head to look in his eyes, "What … what's in the tea Ryan?"

The smile grew while Ryan just smoothed the hair away from her face, "Don't you worry sweetness. It's having the desired effect … finally." He held her cheek in his hand and whispered soothingly, "Don't fight it honey. Just go to sleep and this will all be over before you know it."

* * *

After a quick stop back at his dorm room to grab some more money, a credit card and a heavier jacket, Austin was on a train headed for New York City alternating his attempts to call Sam's cell phone and Ryan's apartment. Although he didn't think it was very likely, Austin also tried Sam's dorm, just in case she had returned home in the midst of everything. Voice mail and answering machine greetings were all he received though. Austin really had no idea whether or not Sam was with Ryan, but it was his only hope. He couldn't bring himself to think of the other possibilities. 

As he sat with his head leaned against the cool window and watched the darkened landscape fly by, all Austin could think about was how badly everything had gotten screwed up. He couldn't imagine living a single day without Sam in his life but he was slowly coming to the realization that she probably didn't want to have anything to do with him anymore. Even though it was scaring the hell out of him that he didn't know where she was, in Austin's mind, that meant that they were still together because she hadn't seen him to break it off. But that didn't keep the image of the fateful scene when he finally found Sam and she told him they were over from replaying in his mind. He saw it differently each time; sometimes she just screamed at him and others she slapped him across the face, but the end result was always the same and that's what was causing the major ache in his heart.

The hour-long train ride gave Austin quite a bit of time to try and figure out what he was going to say to Sam if he found her. What could he possibly say to her that would make any of this better? How could he prove to her that she's the one he loves with all of his breath and that he never meant for any of this to happen? Austin ran his hands through his hair and sighed in frustration when the answers weren't coming to him. Through blurred vision, he stared out the window and spoke under his breath, "I swear I will make this up to you Sam … somehow. I won't let you give up on us and if it takes me until the day I die to get you to believe in me again, so be it."

At the sound of his cell phone, Austin flipped it open anxiously without bothering to check the caller ID, "Hello?" he asked quickly.

"Austin, where are you?"

Austin rolled his eyes at the sound of Shelby's voice, "It's none of your business where I am Shelby. What do you want?"

The anger in her voice grew, "Austin, I told you yesterday before I left that you had better call me today and you never did."

Shelby was honestly the only woman Austin had even remotely thought about hitting and it took all of his strength to keep from putting his fist through the window next to him. He took a deep breath and spoke in a low voice so that the entire train wouldn't hear him, "Listen to me Shelby and listen very carefully. Do not think for even a second that you have anything over me just because you're pregnant. I told you before that I will take full responsibility for my actions, but only where the baby is concerned. You will not be a part of my life in any way, shape or form." Austin leaned his head back on the seat, "How did this even happen, Shelby? I don't remember a God damn second of it."

Shelby answered matter-of-factly, "I drove you home after the party then helped you to your room and one thing led to another."

"I couldn't possibly have been very coherent given the fact that I don't remember it. My guess is I wasn't much of a key player in the whole thing."

"Well actually, you were pretty into it but you kept calling me Sam."

Austin froze. All of the air in his lungs escaped in a whoosh as if he had been punched in the stomach. His eyes were permanently fixed on a random spot on the seat in front of him. He wanted to close them to keep the tears at bay, but his brain wasn't functioning enough to get the message out so they just spilled down his cheeks. His voice was so soft and choked when he finally responded that Shelby could barely hear him, "How … how c … could you? How could you do that to … to me Shelby? How could you have such … such little respect for yourself to do something like that?"

"Austin, I had to do something to make you see that we belong together," Shelby answered simply.

Austin's voice rose as his anger began to overcome his shock, "Oh my God! I feel like I'm talking to a German Shepard! Do you even hear yourself? So are you trying to tell me that you got pregnant on purpose?"

"Um … no I didn't get pregnant on purpose. Listen Austin … "

Austin squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head, "No! No, I will not listen! I am through listening to you Shelby. I don't want to hear another word. As far as the baby is concerned, I will find some way to communicate with you where I do not have to see you or speak to you. And even then, communication will only be when absolutely necessary." Austin paused to catch his breath, "And as far as you are concerned … you no longer exist to me."

Austin snapped his phone shut and threw it on the seat next to him. He rested his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands before he completely broke down. He didn't care that there were other passengers staring at him and wondering what the hell was wrong with him. He didn't care that he was crying like a girl. All he knew was that he loved Sam more than anything but, because of Shelby, she was gone.

Austin started to punch the seat in front of him until the guy sitting in it stood up and yelled at him. It was then that he realized he was causing a scene so he sat back in his seat and tried to calm down. While taking deep breaths, he wiped the tears from his cheeks then covered his face with his hands. He blindly reached for his cell phone when it started to ring again, "I told you, I do not want to … "

"Austin?"

Austin's head shot up, "Sam? Baby, is that you? Where are you?" There was no response. "Sam?"

"Au … Ausshin?"

Instead of easing his fear, the sound of Sam's slurred speech made Austin worry more. "Sam, what's wrong?" He waited but there was no answer. "Sam, what's the matter? Please talk to me."

"Ausshin? Is … is thats you?"

This was killing him. It was so obvious that something was wrong, that she was in trouble but he couldn't do anything to help her. "Yes baby, it's me. Please tell me where you are."

"Austin … I … is … Ry … "

"Sam?" Again, there was no answer. "Sam?" Austin looked at his phone and saw that the call had been disconnected. "_SAM_!"

* * *

Ryan grabbed the phone from Sam's hand and snapped it shut. "Damn it!" He cursed himself for leaving it on the table next to the couch while he and Kirk cleaned up the spilled tea before going to the kitchen. It seemed as though Sam was out cold so he hadn't given it another thought. Sam winced in pain as Ryan grabbed her by the hair and lifted her head, forcing her to meet his eyes, "You better not have told him anything Sam … if you know what's good for you," Ryan threatened. The question of 'Austin, is that you' that he heard her ask just before he took the phone made him think they hadn't gotten very far in the conversation. 

Ryan released her hair and her head fell back on to the pillow. As hard as she was trying to fight it, Sam was losing the battle. Whatever he had drugged her with was knocking her out and she could do nothing but lay there while her lids slowly blanketed her eyes. Sam knew it was only a matter of time before she totally blacked out, but she willed herself not to lose consciousness completely when she heard the sound of Kirk's voice.

"Are you sure you want to do this? She doesn't seem so bad and she's real cute." Kirk watched Ryan skeptically.

Ryan turned and looked at his roommate incredulously, "Yes I'm sure. Look, you just go along with the plan and everyone will be happy, including you."

With his arms crossed over his chest, Kirk shook his head back and forth. "Unh, unh. You tell me the story behind this little love triangle first or I'm not going along with anything."

Ryan watched his roommate as he debated the ultimatum. "Hang on a second." The sound of his voice grew louder as he got closer to her and Sam knew she had to brace herself. Suddenly, she felt the heel of his boot connect with her ribs and she used every ounce of strength she had left to keep quiet. Luckily he had only kicked her with moderate force. Sam figured that he wasn't trying to hurt her, but he needed to see if she was responsive at all. For the most part, Sam succeeded in remaining numb. The only thing his kick did was cause her arm to fall loose from underneath her body until it was hanging off the side of the couch.

Ryan turned back to his roommate and paused to figure out how best to explain the situation. "Do you know what it was like to constantly be second best to Austin? To constantly be standing in his shadow and compared to him day and night? To be told that you should do everything like he does? Coach actually told me to follow Austin around and take notes of how he did everything from throwing a pass to lacing up his pads. Can you believe that?"

Ryan sighed and rubbed his temples, "At first, I was so angry at everyone and most of all, I hated Austin. I started wishing that he would break an arm or a leg so, for once, it could be my turn to shine. But the bitch of it was, Austin was always one hundred percent good to me. He treated me like a brother and he would have done anything for me. That made it harder and harder to hate him."

"Well why would you do this to him then?"

Ryan's head turned sharply in Kirk's direction and his eyes widened before he began to pace the room. "I'm not doing this _to_ him; I'm doing this _for_ him … and for me. I was so excited when Austin told me he wasn't going to the Halloween Dance with Shelby. But at the time, I didn't know why I was so happy. I chalked it up to the fact that I knew how unhappy he was with Shelby and he was finally free of her." Ryan paused for a few seconds as a far-off look took over his face. He stared at a spot on the wall and spoke softly, "Then, the night of the homecoming game I finally figured everything out. Before he left the game, he looked deep into my eyes and said, 'It's your game now. Go get 'em'. That's when it hit me. It wasn't jealousy or hatred I was feeling for him … it was love."

On hearing that declaration, Sam was sure she was dreaming – she hoped she was anyway. She couldn't understand why Ryan would want to hurt her or what purpose drugging her was supposed to serve. Even though Sam wanted to move, she couldn't. Her brain was telling her muscles to move, but they weren't getting the message and all she could do was lay there and listen to the rest of the conversation.

"Okay, I knew you were in love with him," Sam heard Kirk explain. "That much I figured out from the pictures in your room and by the way you talk about him all of the time. But didn't you say he started dating Sam after the homecoming game?"

Ryan squeezed his eyes shut before opening them to look at Sam still on the couch, "Yes," he answered sadly. "I had to endure almost a year in agony of watching the two of them together all of the time. And no matter what anyone said or did, their relationship just seemed to get stronger and stronger. But finally, at the End of Summer party, I got my chance."

Kirk watched Ryan suspiciously, "Austin didn't sleep with Shelby by accident, did he?"

Ryan shook his head, "No, not really anyway. He was so drunk at that party I knew that all I had to do was spike his drink and he wouldn't know whether he was going home with Sam, Shelby or the Keebler Elves. And Shelby! It took absolutely no persuading at all to get her to take him home. She had been trying to break them up all year. All I had to do was tell her that she was the most sober of all of us to drive and leave her with a comment that he was too drunk to know what he was doing so she shouldn't take advantage of him. That sealed it right there. The next week, she had told me and many others that they had slept together."

"So Shelby isn't a part of your master plan at all?" Kirk asked.

"Only in that she's my pawn. I had expected her to go running to Sam the next day squealing that she had slept with Austin, but she never did. I don't know why but she didn't say anything until after they had left for Princeton so I had to come up with something to get her in between them somehow. I started with a little piece of information that Sam had given me – the fact that a major publisher was interested in Austin's writing. I told Shelby about that and that, even though Austin wouldn't be following in his father's million dollar footsteps, he would likely do very well for himself and probably find a little fame along the way too. Shelby was all sorts of excited about that."

"Lucky for you she got pregnant then. That fit into your plan beautifully."

Ryan stopped suddenly and looked at his roommate with a blank face before a smug smile spread over his lips, "The beauty of it is that Shelby's _not_ pregnant. That would be the worst thing that could happen because then Austin would be bound to Shelby forever."

Kirk looked confused, "Then how did … "

"In one of my many conversations with Shelby, I planted the idea in her head. I had said once that if she had gotten pregnant, Austin would definitely come back to her because he would do the right thing. Then I subtly added a remark about even if he just thought she were pregnant, that would give her a few months to work on him before she either had to tell him the truth or pretend that she had a miscarriage. She ran with that so quickly, she barely said goodbye to me."

Kirk sat down in the chair next to the couch where Sam was still lying, "But what would you have done if Sam hadn't come to New York on her own?"

"Well, like I told Sam, I was going to go see her but my real plan was to show up at her door, after she had read the letter, as if I were there to surprise her and then I was going to console her and convince her to come back to New York with me to get away from everything. I was actually following her the next morning after she left Carter's so that I could _accidentally_," Ryan made air quotes with his fingers as he said the word, "bump into her. The funny thing is that I really had been to Bergdorf's earlier to get my sister a birthday present so I even had a bag in my hand which worked out perfectly."

"But if you had wanted Austin all along, wouldn't it have been easier to make Sam the bad guy in this whole thing?"

Ryan sighed, "Yes it would have, but Austin was more accessible. Sam always kept herself very well guarded. She didn't go to very many parties and if she did, it was always with Austin. Plus, I wasn't entirely sure that Austin wouldn't have forgiven her had I convinced him that she cheated. So I had to come up with another way and I could use my friendship with Sam to be sure that she wouldn't forgive Austin."

Kirk reached over and tucked a loose strand of hair behind Sam's ear, "Okay, so now what?"

"I told you, just go along with the plan and everyone will be happy. You can work your magic on her," Ryan gestured toward Sam with an outstretched arm, "And I will have Austin."


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER SIX**

"SAM! SAM!" Austin immediately called her cell phone back only to be greeted by her voice mail after the fourth ring. After trying Ryan's number with the same result, he finally called Carter.

"Hello?"

Austin breathed a sigh of relief, "Carter, it's Austin. Have you talked to Sam?"

"No I haven't. I've been trying her cell phone all night but her voice mail keeps picking up." Carter could hear the panic in Austin's voice and wondered what had happened.

"Carter, she just called me and I think she's at Ryan's."

"What? How do you know?"

"Because it sounded like she was about to say his name but then the call was disconnected. I don't know what happened. Something's wrong Carter. She sounded really disoriented; her words were slurred and she couldn't complete a single sentence. She's in trouble Carter, I know it." Austin's throat was burning with every word he uttered.

"Okay, calm down. Where does Ryan live?"

"Um," Austin took a deep breath to try and calm his nerves, "It's … it's 37 West 59th Street."

"How far away are you?" Carter asked.

Austin reflexively looked out the window as if he would be able navigate his exact coordinates based on the passing trees, "I don't know. I think I'm still about fifteen minutes out."

Carter was in the process of putting his coat on, "Okay, I'll head over to Ryan's now and you go straight there once you're train gets in."

"Carter wait! I have no idea how to get to Ryan's."

Carter sighed in a way that made his cheeks fill out when he exhaled. He knew it wasn't Austin's fault but he was frustrated at the time they were going to lose. "Fine. I'll meet you at the train station then we'll go to Ryan's"

"Okay. Thanks Carter."

After about twenty minutes, Austin was quickly weaving his way through Penn Station after his train got in where he finally found Carter waiting for him. "Carter! Thank God!" Austin reached out to shake his hand, "Thanks for meeting me bro."

Carter gave him a sideways glance and wondered when he had become Austin's 'bro'. He didn't much like the term especially in light of everything that had happened, but he pushed it aside for the time being. The short, buzz-cut type hair that Carter had last seen Austin with had grown out some and was now sprouting in several different directions. Austin's eyes were bloodshot and puffy, his shirt was a mess of wrinkles and only one shoelace was tied. All in all, it was plainly obvious that Austin was a wreck. Right now, they had more important things to deal with so Carter accepted the hand shake and just responded with a weak, "No problem."

"How far do we have to go?" Austin asked as he followed Carter through the hoards of people.

"About six blocks, three of which we can do on the subway and avoid part of the near sub-zero temperatures and torrential rain outside." Carter looked at his watch and saw that they only had a few minutes to reach the 34th Street subway terminal inside of Penn Station. "Come on, we have to hurry." They ran past shops and restaurants that lined the hallways, people singing with their instrument cases lying open for donations, and small, covered masses that were men or women sleeping on the floor. Finally they flew down a flight of stairs, and headed for the uptown A-line train just as it was about to close its doors. Carter and Austin jumped on with only a second to spare.

Austin sat silent in the subway car. It only took about five minutes to travel the three blocks but it seemed like a century because with every passing second he came another step closer to losing Sam. He didn't know if she was safe; he didn't even know if she was really at Ryan's but it was the only chance he had. All he could do was wait and it was damn near killing him. Austin grabbed his knees with his palms in an effort to keep his legs and hands from shaking but it wasn't working. Finally, he heard a recording announce the stop at West 59th Street. "That's us?" Austin asked Carter without really expecting an answer.

"Yeah, come on." Carter followed the exit signs as he ran down the platform and then up a flight of stairs onto the corner of 8th Avenue and West 59th Street.

Austin had remembered Carter saying that it was raining but he didn't process the information until the ice cold water was hitting his face. He pulled his coat tighter around him while cursing himself for not wearing his jacket with a hood. Through the rain drops, he looked around at the mass of people and cars that passed by which mixed with the sounds of horns and conversations of the people waiting to cross the street. Austin wondered how anyone could find their bearings in this city and his fear for Sam escalated tenfold. "Which way?" He yelled to Carter over the throng of noises that surrounded them.

Carter pointed down the street, "That way. Almost three blocks." Austin took off running in the direction Carter had indicated with Carter close behind him. He could tell by the street signs that he was already on West 59th Street so all he had to do was find number 37. He ran as fast as his body would allow him, no longer holding his coat closed around him because it slowed him down too much. It didn't matter that the ice-cold rain was pelting against his chest or that his shirt was now clinging to his body which made him even colder than he already was. He needed to get to number 37 and he needed to get there now.

When Austin reached 200, he looked back and noticed that Carter had fallen behind a little. He looked back again when he reached 100 and saw that Carter had stopped completely. He was clutching the pointed top of a post on a wrought-iron fence which enclosed a three by nine foot section of grass that was someone's front lawn. Austin doubled back for about twenty feet before yelling, "Come on Carter!"

Carter was supporting himself on the fence with one hand, while the other rested on his knee. He looked up weakly when he heard Austin's voice, "Austin, I'm the Actor remember? You're the Athlete."

Austin ran back the full distance to where Carter had clung to the fence as if his life depended on it. "Carter, come on. We don't have time to stop." Carter heard the pleading in Austin's voice and looked up only to see the despair in his eyes. Finally, with his chest still heaving, Carter released the iron lifeline he was holding and conceded with a nod.

They began running again and although Carter was now clutching the stitch that had formed in his left side, he kept running right behind Austin until they reached number 37. Carter followed him up the front steps, without taking them three at a time as Austin had, and then followed him up to the third floor where Austin began pounding on a door with a small, plastic '3A' nailed to the front of it.

* * *

The scent of a familiar cologne floated through the room and hit Sam's senses head on. She didn't know where she was or what had happened, but she knew that cologne – it was Austin's. Sam tried to open her eyes but they seemed to weigh ten pounds which coupled with the fact that she kept drifting in and out of sleep made that difficult. It was then that she started hearing a voice, "Sam … baby?" She tried to move only to be stopped suddenly by a sharp shooting pain that traveled up her left side. "Sam?" 

Sam replied weakly, "Mmmm … Aus … Austin?"

"Baby, can you sit up?"

"Mmmm … " Sam felt two hands slide underneath her torso and pull her into a sitting position. The movement brought back the pain in her side which caused her to wince. "Ow!" Sam cried.

"Oh I'm sorry baby. Are you okay? Sam, can you look at me?"

When Sam tried to do as she was told, she only managed to open her eyes a fraction of an inch for a fraction of a second but she saw it – that beautiful blue. The color that, to her, meant comfort, security, safety and, more importantly, love. "Austin?" Sam tried to sit up straighter which just caused her head to fall backwards because she didn't have the strength to hold it upright. That's when she felt a strong hand on the back of her head that pulled her up to where she could feel his breath on her face. "Austin?" she asked again.

Sam's concentration was broken by a pounding that she heard in the distance followed by the sound of other voices but she was quickly brought back to the man before her when she heard him say, "I missed you baby."

Sam still couldn't open her eyes but she managed to respond, "Mmmm … I missed … missed you too."

* * *

They were both gasping for air. Carter was bent in half still clutching his side when the door swung open revealing Ryan on the other side with a look of surprise on his face, "Austin! Hey bro. What are you doing here?" Ryan reached for his hand and pulled Austin closer for a shoulder-to-shoulder man hug. When he pulled away again, Ryan finally noticed that he was drenched. "Whoa. What happened to you?" As much as he tried, Ryan couldn't keep his eyes from roaming down the front of Austin's body and he visibly shivered as he caught sight of Austin's shirt. 

The top two buttons were open, exposing the indentation at the base of his throat. The small freckle just to the right of it caught Ryan's eye and he bit his lip to keep himself from reaching out to touch it. The shirt itself was plastered to every muscled ripple and groove in Austin's chest, leaving almost nothing to the imagination. Suppressing the shaky breath that resulted was impossible because Ryan had seen Austin without a shirt countless times before and now he was remembering that image.

Carter was watching the scene in front of him with more than a little suspicion. It was obvious to anyone with ears that it was raining outside so it shouldn't take that much time to study the state of Austin's clothes and figure out what had happened. Austin didn't seem to notice anything, but his mind was on other things at the moment. Finally, Carter decided to clear his throat to break the silence which caused Ryan to direct his gaze at him and the look in his eyes could have frozen Carter's blood. "What's he doing here?" Ryan asked curtly.

Again, Austin didn't even seem to notice. "He came with me. Ryan, we're trying to find Sam. Is she here by any chance?"

Ryan looked back to Austin and his eyes softened immediately. He sighed and then looked away as if he couldn't bear to see Austin's reaction when he answered his question. "Yes, she … " Austin didn't even wait for Ryan to finish before he pushed past him and began running from room to room in the apartment. "Austin, wait! I don't think … "

Austin had stopped suddenly in the doorway to the living room. The sight before him caused his eyes to widen and his breathing to almost stop. Sam was sitting on the couch with a guy he had never seen before and Austin was just in time to hear her say, 'Mmmm … I missed … missed you too' right before she was pulled into a kiss.

Ryan came up behind him followed by Carter and they could almost hear Austin's heart breaking. As he watched the woman he loved kissing another man, Austin couldn't help but rationalize that he had done the same thing to her, even worse, so what could he really say? He was torn between storming across the room to beat the hell out of the guy Sam was with or just leaving her to be happy. While his breathing grew rapid and heavy and Austin subconsciously clenched his fists, it seemed that he had chosen to go with the first option. But then Austin saw the man take Sam's hand to place it on his cheek and then cover it with his own. And from where he was standing, Austin could clearly see tongues dancing in rhythm with one another. It was that moment when something in him gave up. He couldn't be angry with her and he didn't want to cause her any more pain or tears.

Austin turned, pushed past the two men who were still standing behind him, then walked out the front door with Ryan on his heels. Carter was still frozen by the scene in front of him because he honestly just couldn't believe what Sam was doing. Even after he heard the front door slam, he couldn't take his eyes off of the pair on the couch. It may have seemed perverse, but Carter couldn't get over how Sam was reacting. Actually, it was the fact that she wasn't reacting that was bugging him. Every move she made seemed to be caused by the guy sitting next to her. He moved her hand to his face and then into his hair while keeping his own hand on top of hers the entire time. It even seemed as if her lips were only moving because his were pushing hers around. Suddenly, the kissing stopped and the guy turned to Carter, "Do you mind? We're kind of in the middle of something here."

Carter looked at the man but ignored the question and turned back to his friend. Sam's eyes were still closed even though they had stopped kissing. "Sam?" Carter asked hesitantly. He heard Sam make a small noise just before her head fell to the side to rest on her shoulder. Carter's eyes narrowed as he looked back at the guy who, Carter now realized, was holding Sam up, "What's wrong with her?"

Carter watched as the man gently laid Sam down on the couch before standing and extending his hand to him, "Name's Kirk."

As he accepted the handshake, Carter never took his eyes off Sam which is why he never saw it coming. The back of Kirk's free hand connected with Carter's cheek so forcefully it caused his glasses to fly off in one direction while his body went flying in the complete opposite. His limp form had hit the corner of a table before coming to rest in an unconscious heap on the floor. "Well that takes care of you," Kirk said satisfied.

Kirk returned to the couch and shook Sam gently. When she finally responded with a soft moan, he laid down on top of her to start kissing her again and was extremely excited when she started to react to his touch. "Au … Aus … "

"Yeah, it's me baby," Kirk responded before she finished. While his lips moved down the side of her neck, his fingers worked on the buttons to her shirt. After releasing the top three, he slid his hand inside where it rested on her breast.

As Kirk's lips moved to Sam's chest just under the base of her throat, she started to squirm. "Austin, when did you … you grow a beard?"

* * *

"Austin! Austin wait!" Ryan grabbed Austin's upper arm just before he reached the bottom of the stairs. As the muscles rolled underneath his fingers, Ryan watched Austin's eyes well up and he almost moaned. "Austin, are you okay?" After a minute, Austin's only response was to shrug his shoulders so Ryan decided to take a chance. He slowly pulled Austin into a hug; not a half-on, half-off hug or an ass-out hug, but a real, full-body hug. At first, Austin hesitated but it wasn't long before his emotions totally took control of his body and he just melted into Ryan's arms while the tears poured down his cheeks. 

Ryan held Austin to him as tightly as possible, rubbing his back and reveling in the way he felt against him. What he wouldn't give to be able to hold Austin this way any time he wanted, even wake up with him in his arms. "Shhhh, shhhh." Ryan moved his hand to the back of Austin's head, "Everything will be okay Austin." Against his shoulder, Ryan felt Austin shake his head in disbelief. "Yes it will. Everything happens for a reason, you'll see." When Austin pulled away, he looked at the floor but Ryan wasn't deterred. He hooked his index finger under Austin's chin and lifted his head until their eyes locked, "I promise everything will be okay," Ryan said softly. Before he knew what he was doing, Ryan gently placed his hand on Austin's cheek and wiped the tears away with his thumb. His gaze slipped from Austin's eyes down to his mouth where it outlined the curves of his lips.

All at once it was too much and Ryan couldn't stop himself. Slowly, he moved closer to Austin; first with his body, then with his head. Their faces were mere inches apart but it wasn't until Austin noticed the movement of Ryan's lips as they began to part that Austin came out of his daze. He took a step back and straightened his body defensively as he moved his head away from Ryan's hand. "What … what are you doing?" he asked apprehensively.

Ryan's hand immediately fell to his side as he silently cursed himself for moving too soon. "I uh … uh, nothing. I was just … "

"NO! NO! STOOOOOP IIIIIIIIT!"

Both Austin's and Ryan's heads snapped in the direction of the scream they heard from above them. More specifically, when they heard _Sam's_ scream from Ryan's apartment. Austin didn't hesitate for a second. He bolted back up the stairs, followed quickly by Ryan, and back into the apartment where he found Sam still in the living room but now struggling from underneath the same guy he had seen her kissing before. She was fighting him, although weakly, while he tried to take her shirt off. It took two strides for Austin to cross the room while his protective adrenaline kicked into overdrive and pulled the guy off of Sam before throwing him to the floor. Austin then fell to his knees next to Sam, "Sam? Baby? Sam, are you okay?" He held her face between his hands and smoothed the hair out of her eyes, "Sam, talk to me baby please."

Austin was suddenly ripped away from her when something grabbed him by the back of the shirt and shoved him across the room. As he was trying to push himself up from the floor, he noticed Carter lying a few feet away from him. "What did you do?" Austin asked as he turned to look at the guy he had just removed from the couch. The only response he received though was a foot connecting with his stomach. The blow caused Austin's body to collapse back to the floor where he moaned in pain.

As the guy lifted his foot to kick him again, Austin heard Ryan yell, "Kirk don't!" The distraction was enough to allow Austin to roll out of the way causing Kirk to miss and lose his balance. When they both finally managed to stand up, Kirk tried to catch him off guard by quickly throwing a right hook at Austin's head. But Austin managed to duck almost instinctively and responded to the movement with a punch of his own that connected with Kirk's jaw. While he was still off balance, Austin grabbed him by the front of his shirt and sent repeated blows of his fist into Kirk's stomach that caused him to double over. Finally, Austin took all the strength he had to slam his elbow into the back Kirk's head. The force caused him to fall to the floor first on his knees and then flat on his face.

"Ughhh, what happened?" Austin turned quickly in the direction of the voice and saw that Carter was pulling himself into a sitting position.

"Carter! Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I think so." Carter gently placed his hand on his cheek then winced in pain. As he tried to maneuver his body into a standing position, Carter suddenly remembered, "Austin! Austin, Sam wasn't kissing him. He was kissing her. I don't think she has any clue who he is or even what was going on."

Austin went back to the couch and sat down in the small space between the side of Sam's body and the edge of the cushions. He pulled her hand into his and tried to speak as clearly as possible. "Sam? It's me, Austin. Can you hear me?"

"Mmmm, Austin? Aus … no! No! NO STOP! AUSTIN DON'T!" Although her efforts were futile, Sam began fighting to get away from him.

When Sam started flailing her arms around, Austin grabbed both her hands and held them down. "Baby, it's okay. That wasn't me but I'm here now."

As much as she could, Sam kept writhing on the couch "AUSTIN PLEASE DON'T!"

Austin leaned over her further to keep Sam still, "Sam, Sam! That wasn't me baby. I would never hurt you. I love you babygirl." Sam heard that, his name for her, and calmed down almost instantly. Even in the state she was in, when he kissed her hand she realized that he didn't have a beard. Austin turned to Carter, "Carter, go downstairs and get a cab. We'll be right down."

Carter nodded and flew past Ryan then out of the room. Ryan was so stunned he didn't even have a chance to react before Carter left. How could all of this have gone so completely wrong? Austin wasn't supposed to be leaving, let alone with Sam in his arms. He was supposed to be in tears over everything, like he was before, so that Ryan could console him and then convince him that they belonged together. The desperation came on full force while he watched as Austin bent down to pick Sam up from the couch. "Austin don't!"

Austin stopped and stood up straight to look at Ryan. "What are you talking about? Don't what?"

Ryan looked at him nervously, "Um … what I mean is, um … are you sure you want to do this?" Austin just stared at him with a look of confusion. "I mean Sam runs away from you to come here. All she does is bad mouth you and air all of your dirty laundry. Then, to top it all off, she gets wasted and hooks up with my roommate here." Ryan gestured toward the form that was still lying unconscious on the floor.

Austin sighed and ran his hand through his hair which was still wet from the rain. "Ryan look, I don't know what happened and right now I don't care. All I do know is that Sam needs help and she needs it now."

"But Austin … "

Austin held up his hand in interruption. "Ryan, like I said, I don't care right now." He turned back to the couch and started to bend down again so he could pick Sam up, but he was stopped by a hand on his arm. Ryan had turned him around so quickly Austin was almost dizzy and before he knew what was happening, Ryan's hands were on the sides of his head and Ryan's lips were on his.

It took several seconds for Austin to get over the shock and realize what was going on before he pushed Ryan away from him. Austin wiped his mouth off with the back of his hand, "What the fuck are you doing?"

Ryan wanted to cry. He had never seen Austin look at him with so much hatred in his eyes before. Slowly, he inched closer to where Austin was standing. "Austin, why can't you see that you deserve so much better than her. Someone who will put you first above all else and do absolutely anything for you."

"Ryan, I suggest that you stop talking before you piss me off even further. I don't even know what to say to you right now so I'm just going to get Sam and then we're leaving."

Austin started to turn back to Sam only to be stopped again. Ryan had grabbed onto the front of Austin's shirt to pull him back and looked into his eyes. Ryan's knees were buckling underneath him as he pleaded with Austin. "She doesn't deserve you Austin. You need to be with someone who will take care of you, someone who loves you, someone like … like me."

Austin couldn't believe what he was hearing. This was so twisted, it was better than any story he could ever have dreamed of writing. "Are you kidding me? Are you fucking kidding me?" Austin looked down at Ryan with so much loathing, it was practically boiling in his veins. "Get the fuck off me!"

Austin's shove caused Ryan to stumble back about a foot but he wasn't going to give up, not when he was this close. "She's a whore Austin." Austin's eyes widened. "When are you going to see that she's just a fucking whore!" Austin's fist connected with Ryan's jaw so quickly that he didn't even have time to blink; the blow landing him sideways on the floor with a bleeding lip.

Austin didn't let anything stop him this time. He quickly bent down and scooped Sam up in his arms. With her head resting over his shoulder, he stepped over Ryan still on the floor but not before giving him one last order, "I don't ever want to see you or hear from you again." With that, Austin left the room and the apartment. He hurried down the three flights of stairs to the cab that Carter had waiting out front. As he slid into the back seat with Sam and Carter got into the front, Austin gave the driver instructions, "The nearest hospital and hurry."


End file.
